Into the Woods
by NotARedhead
Summary: The OSP team gets a special request from the Pentagon, leading Callen and a Pentagon staffer into a series of situations they did not see coming. NOW COMPLETE. Final chapter and Epilogue added.
1. Prologue

**Into the Woods**

_Author's Note__: This is a mini-crossover with NCIS, with a very light sprinkle of The Unit on top. It is based almost entirely in the NCIS: LA universe, which is why it's being published here instead of in Crossovers. It prominently features an original character – one who has made several guest appearances in fics I wrote for the NCIS section a couple of years back. There is enough character information on her here to satisfy most readers, but if you want more background on her and her relationship with Tony DiNozzo, you can head over to the NCIS section and skim through "From California to Peoria in Under Four Hours," "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" and "Second 'B' for Bastard." Elements of those stories figure into this one, so those of you who HAVE read those stories may find certain bits of background or situations that sound familiar. This is a story of many chapters, so god bless you if you make it through. On the plus side, the entire story has been written, so it will be updated pretty quickly, chapter to chapter. I hope you enjoy!_

**PROLOGUE**

The image was clearly Callen. He had a puffy left eye, and a swollen lip. His cheeks were ruddy and red, having taken more than one or two punches to the face. He had a small cut above his right eye and dried blood on his chin. He was looking defiantly at his captor, who was standing out of frame. The wounds were fresh. Callen looked tired, but focused. Steady.

The camera went wide, to show his entire body. He was tied to a chair in a non-descript room with little natural light. He was wearing khaki pants and a bright blue shirt – the exact outfit that Hetty had picked out for him less than a week before.

Aside from the bruises on his face, it was clear from the wide shot that Callen had taken other hits, but he wasn't anywhere close to passing out and didn't seem to be in any severe pain. The wrinkles and dirt on the shirt and pants were consistent with him being placed in this situation against his will – fighting, one supposed – but didn't seem to indicate anything more. Nothing he was wearing was ripped, torn, or bloody. His bare arms showed no injuries, no needle marks.

A man in dark clothes with a mask on came forward and put a pillowcase over Callen's head. The camera shot went to close-up again – just the upper chest and head. Out of frame, from the left – in front of where Callen sat – came a black-gloved hand with a gun. The gun was placed against the bound man's chest, which suddenly began to draw in sharp breaths. In fear, perhaps, or as a calming exercise. One shot was fired. The noise and force of the close impact made the body jerk upward, the chair and body falling sideways, out of frame.

The masked man behind the chair ducked out of view for a second as he righted the chair. Dark red blood covered the front of Callen's bright blue shirt. The pillowcase was pulled off and Callen's head was there, lolling forward, motionless. Lifeless. The masked man lifted up the face and pointed it towards the camera.

The screen went dark.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

ONE WEEK EARLIER

"Why are we doing this, again?" Callen asked as he, Kensi and Sam sat at their desks, flipping through pages of photographs and occasionally putting an "X" by one.

"Because Nate is trying to see what our patterns of recall are," Kensi explained. "He wants to see if we can actually recall individual cases and covers or if they're all starting to dump into one big blob of a memory."

Callen looked up and smirked. "Is that a technical term? One big blob of a memory?" Kensi rolled her eyes.

"I know which of these I worked on and which I didn't," Sam said with a touch of annoyance. "I don't need to go through pictures to be reminded." He finished, slapped the packet of papers into his OUT box, expertly threw the pencil like a dart directly into the pencil cup, and stood up making a "touchdown" gesture.

"Finished! Done! First out! Hoo-rah!"

Kensi and Callen looked up and shook their heads.

"It is not a race, Mr. Hanna," Hetty said. "In observational tasks, it is not always paramount to be the fastest." She stopped and considered what she'd said. "And that," she amended, "is true of other activities as well, isn't that right Miss Blye?"

Callen closed his eyes and dropped his head to the desk, slowly pounding it a couple of times. Kensi blushed bright pink. Sam was opening his mouth to retort when the noise of a cowbell came from the mezzanine.

"Saved by the bell," Hetty said dryly, looking up. "Quite literally."

Eric was standing at the railing ringing a large cowbell on a leather strap.

"I did not bring that back for you from Austria so that you could use it to summon the team, Mr. Beal," Hetty admonished. "I brought it back for you to hang in your home, as they do in the mountains."

Eric appeared appropriately contrite, and then looked at the rest of the team. "Director Vance is coming on line in two minutes."

Callen and Kensi quickly finished their stacks of photos and tossed them in their OUT boxes, with somewhat less ceremony than had Sam.

"Grandstander," Callen said to his partner as he walked out of the bullpen and to the stairs.

"Show off," Kensi added as she followed.

"On your way, children … on your way," Hetty said, collecting the stacks. "I'll be there presently."

Eric and Nate were already sitting in the ops room when Sam, Callen and Kensi entered. The three walked in just in time to see Director Vance's image come up on the big screen.

"You rang, Director?" Callen said, shooting a playful glance at Eric.

Director Vance ignored the comment and began, as Hetty walked into the room. "We are taking on a joint op with the Pentagon," he said.

The team straightened up, interested.

"It has taken several months of set-up to get to this point," Vance continued, "but I will let your special guest star explain it all to you. I trust that you will all work well together and that your team, Agent Callen, will provide the needed support."

"Of course, Director," Callen answered.

"You have the lead, Callen," Vance continued. "But the Pentagon is providing your content expert and I expect you to listen to her." Callen nodded.

"Be careful," Vance stressed, his gaze focusing directly on Callen. "This will seem easier than it is." He made a 'cut' gesture, and the screen reverted to a test pattern.

"A 'special guest', Hetty?" Callen said, as he turned to the rest of the team. "Any idea who?"

"She is an Operations Specialist from the Pentagon, Mr. Callen," Hetty said as she handed over a file. "Here is her paperwork and some background. Mr. Getz will be meeting her this afternoon, and she will be with us tomorrow morning. I suggest you all use the remainder of the day to finish up any latent paperwork you might have – and yes, Mr. Hanna, I am looking specifically at you – as we expect the next few days to be quite busy."

"Bring the file up on the screen Eric," Callen instructed as Hetty left the room. A Pentagon ID and photo appeared, followed by other paperwork – one commendation, a half-dozen disciplinary notes, and a long list of past jobs, both military and civilian.

"Quite the job-hopper," Sam said.

"Jessica Kennedy," Kensi read from the ID card on the screen. "Operations Specialist at the Pentagon, Masters in Political Science, four languages … woah," Kensi's laundry list reading stopped. "Did you see her weapons scores? She just barely qualified."

"Which explains why she sits behind a desk, I guess," Callen said, reading more of the file. "Not someone you want in the field."

"She's got disciplinary notes here for 'unauthorized use of military assets'," added Sam.

"Six times," Nate noted. "And every time, she got bumped down a notch and reassigned."

"Reassigned, though, not terminated," Callen said, thoughtfully. "And it looks like she always got the rank back after the investigations. Which means that she was able to explain why the assets were needed and that whoever she explained it to bought the reasoning."

"Or that she's got some big friends in high places," Sam said. Callen nodded.

"Seriously, G, this could be more trouble than it's worth," said Sam. "SHE could be more trouble than she's worth."

Callen closed the file and looked at his partner. "If the Pentagon is sending her, and the Director agreed, then she must have skills. Let's wait until we meet her."

The three started out of the ops center and back downstairs, with Nate following behind.

"Maybe the Pentagon is sending her to get rid of her for a while," Kensi said under her breath. "Seems to be the pattern."

"I hear that," Sam agreed.

"And I, Mr. Hanna, would like to hear the sound of you finishing your paperwork," Hetty offered as she joined them back in the bullpen. "You may have finished your Recall Exercise before the rest of the team, but you are woefully behind in your case updates." She turned to Nate. "And you, Mr. Getz, should be on your way to the airport. I understand the 405 is being particularly difficult today."

Nate waved a good-bye to the rest of the team. Callen and Kensi looked at Sam with mock pity as they headed for the door.

"Where you all goin'?" Sam said, as he sat at his desk.

"Basketball," the two said, in unison. "Renko and Deeks are waiting outside," Callen added, with a backward glance at his partner. "Join us when – or, rather, IF – you finish before dark."

Sam waved a hand at Callen, and Kensi laughed.

"And you," Callen said, giving Kensi a playful punch in the shoulder. "YOU play nice with Operations Specialist Kennedy."

"I will be on my best behavior," Kensi assured.

"Yeah …" Callen said as the two walked out of the building. "That's kind of what I'm afraid of."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"I can't believe you're going to Vegas and you're not taking me!" Special Agent Tony DiNozzo said, nearly pouting into the phone. "I love Vegas."

Jess Kennedy – Tony's best friend since childhood – had just broken the news to him that she was taking a vacation without him. It wasn't the first time she'd done so in their multi-decade history together, but it was definitely the first time she'd told him that she was going alone to someplace he absolutely LOVED. Tony was, as virtually anyone who had met him could guess, a natural for Vegas. Beautiful women, late nights, the Rat Pack, he loved all of it. She felt extremely guilty for not choosing a less enticing spot for her cover.

"I know you do," Jess said, apologetically. "But it's really hard to have a 'ladies only' vacation when there's a 'ladies man' in the party."

Tony considered this. "Yeah," he finally said. "I can understand that. But you are SO not the 'ladies only' type. You've never been the 'ladies only' type. Why now?"

Jess knew this would be his argument. She'd spent several hours figuring out what to say. "As you know … I have a new team at the Pentagon, many of whom are women. And as you have told me repeatedly, I need to learn to play well with all of them. Remember that New Year's resolution?"

There was no response.

"Tony?" Jess said. "You still there?"

"Sorry," Tony answered, dreamily. "I was imagining you and the women on your team … playing …" His voice drifted off. Then, "Ow!" as Gibbs walked by and headsmacked him.

Jess laughed. "You okay?"

"Gibbs," Tony said, as if that explained everything.

"Thank him for me," Jess said, still laughing. "Look … I'll bring you back a present, and if I win a million dollars playing blackjack, a third of it is yours."

"Only a third?"

"A third for me, a third for you, and a third to pay off the police so they don't arrest me for the celebrating I'll do after I win a million dollars."

"Seems fair," he said. "Be safe."

"I will," Jess said, taking the words to heart. "I'll see you in a week or so." And then … "Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"Just … well …" she began.

Tony sighed. "You always do this when you go away," he said. "You get all worried that something will go wrong and that you'll be stuck in the middle of nowhere with nothing. You are watching WAY too many 'Lost' reruns, you know that?" He heard Jess laugh a little. Even though Jess couldn't see him, Tony put his hand on his heart as if to swear an oath. "I promise that if you end up in the middle of the desert after a gambling binge, or stranded on top of the Hoover Dam after having had one too many Bloody Marys, I will make sure that you return home safely. OK?" And then, in a quieter, more serious tone, "OK?"

"Say it," she said.

Tony sighed again. "Any time, anywhere."

Jess smiled. "Thank you, Tony."

"If I notice money missing from my ATM account, you're toast," he added.

"Understood," she said. "I'll see you soon."

And with that she hung up and finished packing. Her flight to LAX was leaving in two hours.

* * *

Nate was at the airport to meet Jess when she came off the plane. She saw him, standing awkwardly at the bottom of the stairs, holding a stack of folders and a couple of manila envelopes. He looked pretty much exactly as you would expect a clinical psychologist to look. He was equal parts unthreatening brotherly type, medical professional and covert-person-who-keeps-secrets.

"You're Nate?" Jess said as she approached him. "You look suspiciously like a photo of a man named Nate that was sent to me this morning."

He smiled and shook her hand, nearly toppling the folders he was carrying. "I am," he said. "Welcome to LA. Have you been here before?"

"Yes … no … well, not really," Jess answered. Nate raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to the side.

"Sorry," Jess said, a bit sheepishly. "I haven't been here … not really. I came through the airport on a trip back from Southeast Asia once, and I sort of went past the city when I was driving from Tijuana to Santa Maria. But I was going pretty fast and was a little bit distracted, so I didn't really see that much." She paused, biting her lower lip in nervousness. She quickly looked up at the info screens. "I'm luggage carousel 16."

She escaped towards the baggage claim area and Nate was left to consider what she'd just said. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to know more about the trip to Asia or about why she was driving really fast away from Tijuana, but he decided to just let it go and move forward. By the time he caught up to her, Jess was pulling her suitcase off the carousel. She turned to him.

"This is it for me," she said, indicating the suitcase. "Where to?"

"I'll be taking you to your housing assignment," Nate said, "and then over to OSP so that you can do your paperwork and meet Hetty."

"Hetty?" Jess asked.

"Our Operations Coordinator," Nate clarified. "She organizes the missions, provides resources, wardrobe, that kind of thing. Think Yoda, dressed in Anne Klein."

Jess chuckled. Nate held up the files and envelopes he was carrying. "And these are for you."

He handed the stack to Jess, who slid them into the front of her carryon. Nate continued. "I've prepared quick dossiers on the team, plus there's some last-minute paperwork from Director Vance. There are also a few credentials that you'll need to get into the building, keys to your apartment, a couple of parking passes – like gold in LA, don't lose them – and some local maps. Basic stuff. We have a car for you outside, if you don't mind driving."

"No problem," said Jess. "It'll give me a chance to get familiar with the area." She took the keys from Nate and the two of them headed towards the escalators to the parking area. She glanced down at the files peeking out of her bag. "Did you do a dossier on me for the rest of the team?" she asked.

"Yes," Nate replied.

"Have they seen it yet?"

"Yes," Nate said.

"How did … um … how'd they take it?" Jess asked, a little nervously.

Nate smiled. "They are very much looking forward to working with you."

Jess looked at him and raised an eyebrow. "You don't do much undercover work, do you Nate?" she asked.

"Not really," he replied. "Why?"

She laughed. "Because you're not a very good liar."


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Good morning!" Callen said brightly as he walked into the bullpen the next morning. He put his bag down with a customary 'thump', dropped into his chair, pulled some messages from his In Box, glanced at his team with a grin, and started to read.

"So … how's everyone?" he asked, focusing on the message slips.

Silence.

Callen looked up. His team was staring at him. Sam was almost slack-jawed, a look G had seldom seen on his partner. Kensi was standing with a coffee cup at her lips, mid-sip. Nate had an expression somewhere between, 'What the heck?' and 'Danger! Danger!' Even Eric was staring down from the mezz in confusion.

"What?" Callen said with a wrinkled brow and confused look. He focused on Sam. "Sam … ? You okay?"

"You said 'good morning'," Kensi said, almost in a whisper and still in a bit of disbelief.

"You never say 'good morning'," Nate offered.

Sam blinked, shook his head a bit and took a quick breath. "Never in all the years I have known you have you said 'good morning'."

"That is not true," Callen challenged.

"OK …", Sam conceded. "Let's amend that to say that you have never said 'good morning' and actually meant it."

"I would have to say that there is some fleeting accuracy to that, Mr. Callen," added Hetty as she approached. "In my dealings with you, I can count on one hand the number of times you have entered the office and offered up a 'good morning' to anyone, and I can count on one finger the number of times your countenance and temperament seemed to match the sentiment."

"Once!" Callen exclaimed, pointing to Sam. "See? I have wished people a sincere 'good morning' at least once. Hetty said so." He smiled smugly.

"Counting today, Mr. Callen," Hetty said as she turned for the stairs. "Counting today."

"Now," she continued as she headed for the briefing room, "if we are past our moment of shock and awe at Mr. Callen's uncharacteristically good humor, perhaps we can get some work started."

The team all turned to look at Callen, who was trying hard to appear hurt by Hetty's comments, but couldn't. He jumped up out of his chair and headed to the staircase. When he discovered that there was no movement behind him, he turned to his still silent team. "You comin'?" he said, head cocked to the side.

The rest of the team looked at each other, weighing whether it was indeed safe to follow what was obviously an altered version of their team leader into a room with lots of sensitive electronic equipment and only one exit. They all began to move slowly and cautiously towards the stairs.

"Is it safe, do you think?" Kensi said, glancing at Sam and letting her gaze rest on Nate.

"He seems harmless," Nate offered, as he followed G upstairs.

"Seems …," said Sam, still unsure, as he brought up the rear.

Eric had the screens full by the time the team walked into the briefing room.

A woman in a blue suit, with a light brown ponytail and glasses, stood towards the back of the room, a stack of folders by her side. Callen glanced over and gave her a smile as he walked into the room. A smile that she returned. And a smile that did not go unnoticed by the rest of the team.

She moved forward to the table and extended a hand to Sam.

"Operations Specialist Jessica Kennedy," she said, shaking hands. "Jess."

Sam nodded. "Nice to meet you. Sam Hanna." Jess continued around the room, formally meeting Kensi and Eric, and saying a hello to Nate, before stopping at Hetty. Sam and Kensi exchanged a glance, both noting that Kennedy had not introduced herself to Callen. It appeared they'd already met.

"We welcome you, Miss Kennedy," Hetty said. "We don't quite have the resources of the Pentagon, but we will do our best to provide you with what you need."

Jess glanced around the room. "Looks pretty technologically complete to me," she said. Hetty smiled and nodded a 'thank you'.

"I didn't realize the Pentagon even knew we existed," Callen said, looking at Hetty.

"They don't," Hetty assured. "But, as this case involves a discharged Marine and other military personnel, they went to Director Vance asking for an assist. The Director, as you all heard yesterday, told them that if they had someone to send, he would be sure they were given the support they needed in Los Angeles. Only one other person at the Pentagon is aware that Miss Kennedy is with us. Everyone else has been told that she is on vacation in Las Vegas."

"So …" Jess said, "what happens here …"

"Stays here?" Eric provided, helpfully.

"Exactly," Hetty confirmed. "With the exception of Director Vance, no one will know all of the details of this exercise, except for us."

"Unless something goes terribly terribly wrong …" The team moved in unison to look at Nate, leaning back in his chair at the console. He instantly sat up straight and nervously added, "Which … of course … won't happen."

Callen and Sam made eye contact and shook their heads.

"Seriously," Nate said. "Open / shut. In / out. No worries. No problem." He smiled innocently.

Callen recalled the Director's warning that it wouldn't be as easy as it sounded and hoped that Nate hadn't just jinxed them.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Hetty broke in, mercifully changing the subject. "And I do so enjoy being able to truly say 'ladies' in the plural for a change, with Miss Kennedy in the room." Then, to Kensi, "Not that you, Miss Blye, do not consistently do the work of at least two people, thereby being fully deserving of the plurality."

Kensi blushed a bit and looked at the floor, then caught Sam's eye and tried to wipe the sarcastic grin off of his face from across the room.

"Yes … well … ladies and gentlemen," Hetty began again. "I would like you to meet Purchasing Specialist Edward H. Sutton III." She indicated the military ID showing on the screen. "Miss Kennedy, the room is yours."


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

The team turned expectantly to Jess, who moved forward, handing out folders of information.

"Specialist Sutton has a 15-year history at the Pentagon, and was part of the Marines' procurement strike force for just under a decade," she began. "During that time, he had a totally spotless, perfectly exemplary record. However, Internal Affairs started watching him about four years ago, when they noticed that almost everyone assigned to work _with_ Sutton ended up in disciplinary review. Sutton? Never. Eighteen months ago, Sutton was re-assigned to a new unit at the Pentagon, giving him a whole new group of associates. "

Five photographs came up on the screen.

"Specialists Harper, Applewhite, Korianski, Baker and March," Jess introduced as she pointed them out. "All fairly long-time Pentagon supply personnel. All had clean – though not spotless – records. But within six months of hooking up with Sutton, every member of this group was facing court martial, except – once again – Sutton."

Only Harper's and March's photos remained on the screen.

Jess continued. "By the time they'd worked a few months together, Alexander Harper and Laura March were Sutton's closest friends – they were practically joined at the hip at work. Harper was a liaison to the HazMat teams, particularly those heading overseas; March procured and tracked heavy ordinance."

"What about the other three?" Kensi asked.

"Clothing and materials trackers," Jess replied. "They weren't as high up on the food chain – definitely followers and not leaders."

Nate opened a file and began to fill in some blanks. "Harper and March were classic sidekicks. They liked Sutton's authoritative nature, and particularly liked that he could brown-nose the higher-ups with one breath while berating them with the next. They followed him around like a puppy dog. Whatever Sutton needed or wanted, Harper and March would do their best to get, if for no other reason than to warrant favor from the king."

"Sounds like schoolyard politics – junior high school stuff," Sam said.

"It was, sort of," Jess continued. "These three were big kids on campus. They could get anything and slide it under the radar. They'd use the desires and weaknesses of the other team members to their advantage. By the time their bosses caught on, Sutton had plucked a warehouse full of stuff from the inventories of every branch of the military."

"Starting his own army?" Sam asked.

"Very nearly," Hetty said. She motioned to Jess to continue.

"Sutton had been supplying a number of clients in the paramilitary and private sectors with equipment, ammo, copiers, whatever," she said. "He'd cut in Harper and March and they'd pull stuff off pallets for him. His fingerprints were on nothing. No signatures, no requests, no trace of him on any manifest, storage bill, crate or envelope. When they were caught, Sutton played the part of the unlucky guy in the wrong place at the wrong time, guilty by association. IA had enough circumstantial evidence to get him a dishonorable discharge, but couldn't prosecute. Harper was tossed in the brig."

"What about March?" Sam stepped up and pointed to her photo on the screen.

"Still out there," Jess said. "She went AWOL before they could arrest her, and we now believe that she's working with Sutton. Kind of a paramilitary Bonnie & Clyde."

"And the other three?" Kensi asked.

Eric filled in those blanks. "Their JAG lawyers were able to get the harshest charges dropped and light sentences for the remaining missteps. All were re-assigned to – literally – the ends of the earth. Applewhite went to Alaska, Korianski was sent to South America and Baker is somewhere in Africa. They were all bumped down at least a rank and assigned to various low-clearance transportation and mess jobs. Not a speck of dirt on their records since."

"Where do we come in?" Sam asked.

Two more photos appeared on the screen. "Melissa and Matthew Harper," Jess said. "Alexander Harper's younger brother and sister. Fraternal twins. When Harper went to the brig due to his part in Sutton's dirty work, his siblings were blackmailed into taking over their brother's spot on the team. Sutton promised them that their brother would be safe if they cooperated, murdered in prison if they did not. Sutton was in the private sector now, and both Lissa and Matty had contacts he was able to exploit. Alex Harper worked with them at the beginning, but has recently found redemption in prison and is looking to get his siblings out of Sutton's clutches. He's been working with us to get an inside look at the operation. Sutton left town last week to make a delivery, and we were able to grab both Lissa and Matty. Turns out they wanted out too, and they are providing us with a wealth of information."

Jess looked at Callen to continue.

"Our part of this," Callen said, "is to go undercover as Lissa and Matty Harper. We need to locate and capture Sutton and March, along with their client list, records … anything else we can find. Sutton has been escalating over the past year or so, and SecNav would like to get him off the paramilitary streets."

"Wait," Kensi said, her brow wrinkled in confusion. "How can that happen? Sutton knows the Harpers."

"No, he doesn't," said Jess with a smile. "That's the beauty of it."

Callen picked up the story. "He's worked with them via e-mail almost exclusively. The few times he's needed closer contact, it was always fronted by brother Alex or a Sutton deputy. Sutton has never dealt with them in person. He wants to be invisible. He wants people to see him as the phantom leader of a ghost organization."

"Which is exactly what you'd expect from his personality," Nate added. "He is building himself up as some sort of larger than life character in a military spy novel. He sees himself as a mythological character, almost."

"He's been working mostly through e-mail commwebs –", Callen began.

Eric cut him off. "Wicked _crazy_ commwebs!" Eric said. "This guy knows his stuff. Every lead bounces around a hundred times and then just … dies. I haven't been able to trace a single one." His frustration was evident. So was his admiration.

"So," Callen continued, with a sidelong glance at Eric, "the Harpers and Sutton have never met. They've barely spoken. Everything is done via secure, nearly unhackable electronic messaging that is wiped clean almost as fast as it's sent."

"Except that Lissa and Matty have been printing and saving _everything_ for about six months," Jess interrupted, "on the suggestion of big brother Alex, who wouldn't mind seeing Sutton spend some time behind bars."

Callen concluded, "We had the Harpers call a meeting. Sutton got back in town two days ago. Matty Harper told Sutton that he'd gotten his hands on some sensitive product that has to be hand-carried and hand-delivered. Took a few tries and a lot of convincing, but he got Sutton to agree."

"How do we know Sutton will show up and not send a deputy?" Kensi asked.

"Because Sutton doesn't really trust anyone," Nate said. "He's a true sociopath. Anti-social, narcissistic, total disregard for societal norms. He would never trust anyone with something as sensitive as the Harpers claim to have."

"Which is?" Sam asked.

"Blueprints for the Navy's new F-35 series B Joint Strike Fighter surveillance aircraft," Hetty said. "We have 'borrowed' the plans from our friends at the Department of Defense and have altered them just enough to look believable to general scrutiny. They would, however, be about as useful as a box of LEGOs, if someone tried to actually build a spy plane from them. "

Jess continued. "So … anyway … we need to replace the Harper twins with our own people and take the meeting."

"How soon?" Sam asked.

"Two days," said Callen.

"Who's going?" Kensi asked.

"Callen," Nate said, "and Jess."


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Sam and Kensi looked at Nate in surprise. He explained, "Jess has been on this case for over a year. She knows these guys inside and out. None of us can learn all that in the amount of time we have and be convincing." He glanced around the room. "Hetty and I did a skills and threat assessment, and Jess was the best option."

"You've never met Sutton?" Kensi asked. "All your time and his time at the Pentagon and you've never crossed paths."

"No," Jess assured. "We were assigned to totally different rings. I'd never even have heard of him if this case hadn't come up."

"OK," Sam said. "But why you?"

Callen shot a look at Sam and opened his mouth to speak.

"It's a fair question," Jess said, glancing Callen's way.

"What I mean," Sam said, shooting a look back at Callen, "is that, if you've never had anything to do with Sutton, how'd you fall into this?"

"It started off as just another assignment," said Jess. "A contractor who works with big vehicles – think tanks and Hueys – had noticed that some parts shipments had gone missing, so he'd asked someone to investigate. Landed on my desk. It really was just luck of the draw – there are a half-dozen people who do what I do." She quickly explained. "Among other things, my job involves following up anything that could derail any strategy at any level in any area of any operation."

"And missing spare parts could do that," Kensi said, thinking out loud.

"Yes," Jess said. "When I saw the file, it reminded me of one I'd had a few months prior – missing baling wire. And one a month or so before that – paper products. They were random items, seemingly unrelated and coming from different cost centers. But it turns out that they all had the same procurement code on them. That didn't make sense. So I started looking for more, and found a couple of dozen missing shipments over a ten-month period, all with the same P-code."

She turned to the screens. "Eric? Can you pull up the paperwork, please?"

Eric spun around to look at Sam and the team. "She said 'please'. You guys never say please."

"She doesn't know you like we do," Sam said.

Jess chuckled. "Eric?" she repeated, in a slightly more authoritative tone.

"Sorry," Eric said, as a series of documents came up on the screen.

Callen smiled at Jess and then stepped up to look more closely at the documents. "All signed by different people, but the signatures look the same." He looked at Sam, then turned back to Jess.

"Exactly," Jess confirmed. "So I started following paper trails. Everything led back to Sutton's team. Turns out that they were forging – badly, but forging nonetheless – the signatures for items they needed or wanted. Nothing they were asking for set off any red flags. Nothing was 'restricted access', even the ammo, so once the lot numbers and purchase order numbers were checked, the requests went through."

Hetty continued. "Miss Kennedy took all of this to her bosses, who took the appropriate action. They had evidence against Sutton's team members, but could not find anything concrete on him. So they filed charges against everyone but Sutton. He was discharged and put on an inter-agency watchlist. Just in case he tried to restart his 'procurement business' on the outside. The Pentagon was hoping that he'd slip up and they'd be able to tie his civilian scams to his military record."

Jess turned back to the rest of the group. "But he didn't. He didn't slip, and we thought we'd hit a dead end. We knew he had partners, but we didn't know who. Once he was clear of the military, the Pentagon moved on to other more pressing matters."

"And then Harper asked for help," Nate continued. "He offered to give up what he knew about Sutton and March in exchange for immunity for his sister and brother. He wanted Sutton out of all of their lives."

"Are we sure he's still working it?" Sam asked.

Jess turned back to the screen. "According to his bank records…", she began, as Eric pulled them up. "Thank you", she said, as she continued.

"She says 'thank you' too," Eric said under his breath. Callen and Sam looked at each other and shook their heads.

"According to his bank records," Jess repeated, "he's amassed over $1.6 million over the past six years from sale of stolen merchandise. Much of it from the stores of items he procured while at the Pentagon and in other military roles. All of which he's apparently been using to build a small private militia."

Another picture of Sutton appeared on the screen. This one so different from his military portrait that they all had to look twice to be sure it was the same man. His face was harder and his eyes more intense. He was unshaven, wearing military fatigues, his dark hair pulled back into a ponytail, with no real emotion in his expression. The photo had been taken at a gun show two months earlier.

"He's gone from being a petty thief to grand larceny, which is escalating to a full-out obsession with money and power," Nate said. "He thinks he's too smart to get caught, which makes him dangerous. And he has no family or close ties other than March, who I suspect he'd leave behind without a thought if she got in his way."

"So …," Hetty said, as she tried to wrap up the briefing, "it is our job to find this pariah and bring him to justice before he does something that the entire world will regret."

"But the meeting is set up, with people he trusts. Seems like a fairly straightforward snatch and grab," Kensi observed.

"Except that the target is unpredictable," Nate reminded. "He may have a working relationship with Lissa and Matty Harper, but it's not likely he actually _trusts_ anyone. They'll be in just as much danger as anyone else."

"Make no mistake," Hetty said, with a tone serious enough to get everyone's attention. "Edward H. Sutton III is no one to trifle with. He has no sense of loyalty or honor. He will not hesitate to eradicate anyone or anything that blocks his way to the prize. It will make no difference to him whether you are prior business partners, government agents or strangers off the street. If you threaten his existence, he will eliminate you."

"So …" Callen said. "This would be the 'not as easy as it looks' part, then?"

"Do not joke, Mr. Callen," Hetty scolded. "He is more dangerous than you know."


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

The meeting broke up and the team members each took their assignments.

Kensi and Nate were sent to the boathouse to meet the real Melissa and Matthew Harper and make sure that the team had everything they needed to complete Callen's and Jess' backstories.

Eric and Hetty began creating the various documents and histories Callen and Jess would need – everything from IDs and job histories to high school transcripts and Facebook pages. Alex Harper had already provided Sutton with full backgrounds of his brother and sister; Eric's backstopping would need to match what Sutton already knew plus provide that 'something extra' if Sutton went looking.

Jess went back to her apartment to call her boss with an update and to read through the Melissa Harper dossier. She also had time set aside to work with Nate and Hetty to help her slide into the persona of Lissa Harper. Jess hadn't done much undercover work – her experience included two cases during a stint with INS several years ago, supplemented by a lot of acting in college. She looked at the current assignment as playing a lead role in a largely improvised play. It was Nate and Hetty's job to impress upon Jess the differences between being someone else on stage and being someone else on a case, where a bad review could cost the mission, not to mention someone's life.

Jess was also hoping to squeeze in a little bit of shopping, trying to find at least one souvenir in LA that she could pass off as something from Las Vegas. Thankfully, she and Tony had a tradition of bringing only tacky touristy gifts back for each other from vacations, and she was fairly certain she could locate _something_ in LA with either a pair of dice or a pair of breasts on it that would fit the bill. She also planned to write out a few postcards and send them to a friend who lived in Pahrump and had promised to mail some cover postcards for her with a Las Vegas postmark.

Callen headed home to read through the Matthew Harper file and begin to get himself into the mental headspace he needed to be in to become someone else. He'd gotten pretty adept at it over the years, but he still had to consciously "flick the switch", as Sam liked to say, to turn "undercover" on and "Callen" off.

Sam drove him home, and could not resist asking the question that had been on his mind all morning.

"Seriously, G," Sam said, putting the car into park. "What was with you this morning? You sleeping in a pod now? Got your body snatched and exchanged with 'Happy G'?"

Callen sighed. "It was just a good day, is all," he said, tired of the question. He put his hand on his heart. "I hereby promise that I will never again utter the phrase 'good morning' and smile at the same time. In fact … I will never again offer up a pleasant greeting to anyone at any time for any reason." He looked at Sam, who was grinning back at him. "Happy?"

Sam shook his head, smiling. "It's just not your normal … countenance, as Hetty would say. Can't blame a team for being interested in what's going on."

"Going on?" Callen repeated, eyebrows raised.

"Between you and our special guest from DC." Sam's eyebrows raised to match his partner's. "I assume that's what … or, rather, WHO … put you in such a delightful mood." He said the word "delightful" in that little sing-songy way he had, and it nearly dared Callen to respond.

Callen looked at his partner, closed his eyes and sighed, and Sam knew he'd won. He chuckled.

"OK … look …," Callen said, with resignation in his voice. "Jess made me breakfast this morning. That's all. We good?"

"Not even remotely," Sam said, more questions looming than before. Callen tried hard not to smile, and didn't offer more. "She's been here barely a day and she's making you breakfast? You taking lessons from Renko?"

Callen smiled and shrugged.

Sam continued. "So … your place? Her place? Wearing one of your shirts? Wearing … anything?"

Callen laughed out loud and answered. "Yes. No. Um … no. And yes."

Sam waved his hand in a 'come on, buddy … I need more' gesture. Callen continued.

"Look," he explained. "I left the office late last night. Jess was on her way in to do inter-agency paperwork with Hetty and Nate. She asked if I wanted to go over anything before this morning and I said it could wait. I told her we'd meet in the morning before the rest of the team so I could get an overview."

Sam made another 'more … more …' gesture. Callen sighed.

"She showed up at my doorstep this morning – fully clothed … in her own clothes – and asked if she could make me breakfast while she read me in on the case. I told her that I wasn't even sure the kitchen worked, but she said she'd improvise. Which she did."

Callen ignored Sam's smirk and continued.

"We ate, I got the download, and then we both went to work. In our own cars." G looked innocently at his partner. "Okay?"

"What did she make?" Sam asked.

"Blueberry pancakes, applewood-smoked bacon, and quite possibly the best coffee I've ever had in my life," Callen replied.

"Vermont maple syrup?"

"Maine," G said.

There was a beat of silence. "And so that is why you were so damn happy this morning?" Sam said. "Because someone who you did not sleep with woke you up at who knows what time and cooked you breakfast while you got a sit rep?"

Callen knew Sam was egging him on, but he'd gone this far.

"I was already awake and dressed, thankyouverymuch, when Jess got there, and I offered to _buy_ her breakfast, but she was standing there with this sack of food …"

Sam chuckled.

Callen shot him a look, but continued. "… and … well … it was just …" He searched for the right word. "It was just nice to start a day … you know …" Searching again. "To start a day like a NORMAL person."

Callen looked almost wistful, and Sam backed off. He'd never heard his partner actually say something positive about the notion of settling down, and he didn't want to jinx it.

"No waitress dropping her number at my table and saying she's off at 4 while she's spilling coffee on my eggs," Callen said. "No walking to the diner wondering if someone's watching me and counting how many times a month I've gone to breakfast there. No greasy bacon and underdone pancakes and syrupy, gritty coffee. No slamming down a breakfast burrito on the way up the stairs. It was a home-cooked breakfast followed by interesting and relevant conversation with an attractive member of the opposite sex." He looked at Sam, who was serious now. "Go ahead … laugh."

Sam smiled and shook his head. "Nope," he said, sincerely. "Not laughing. Any time one of us gets a little 'normal' is a good time."

They exchanged a look of understanding, and Callen started to get out of the car.

"Did she clean up the kitchen after?" Sam said, with a smirk.

"She did," Callen replied, as he disappeared into his apartment and closed the door behind him.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

It was the day before Callen was due to step into the shoes of Matty Harper and make a grab for Edward Sutton. He'd spent the last couple of days trying to get inside Harper's skin – everything from memorizing past high school reprimands to checking the scores of Matty's favorite sports teams. Most of the information was anecdotal stuff that he would never use, but it was essential to Callen being able to think like the person he was supposed to be.

Jess had spent the same amount of time getting to know Lissa Harper. She'd spent hours with Nate and Hetty, going through the basics of undercover work. Things like answering the questions you're asked and not embellishing any more than you have to. Keep track of what you tell people and don't try too hard. Don't give anyone a reason to wonder why you're providing lengthy, detailed answers to simple questions.

Jess and Callen had also spent an afternoon with the Harper twins, seeing how they related to each other, how they joked, argued, and acted. Both Jess and Callen thought that the twins seemed to be a little uncomfortable with each other – like they were aware that they were being watched and were trying to behave better than they normally would. Nate assured them that this was to be expected.

"It's like filling out a TV ratings survey," Nate had said. "You don't want to keep putting down that you watch cartoons on Thursday afternoons or that you're constantly tuned into the Speed network. You toss a little PBS and Headline News in there so that you come across differently. Same thing here. No one wants to show people how they REALLY behave."

It seemed logical. So Jess and Callen took what they'd learned from Matty and Lissa and came up with their own spin on it. By the end of the second day, they were practically finishing each other's sentences, and they were recalling instances from "their" childhood as if they truly had been brought up in the same home. They were – to the rest of the team's amusement and occasional annoyance – treating each other like brother and sister. Neither Callen nor Jess could boast totally stable childhoods, or any sort of mix of sibling love and rivalry, so it was an interesting exercise for both of them.

The day before the meet with Sutton, Hetty got on the line with Director Vance to brief him on how the preparation and planning phase were going and to let him know that the operation was, indeed, a "go". Jess was called up to the ops center to elaborate on a bit of Sutton's Pentagon background, leaving Sam, Kensi and Callen to sit in the bullpen, making small talk while they waited for the call upstairs to end.

"I know you're sick of hearing it, G, but I'm just not sure about this," Sam said, for the hundredth time. The team had been told that they would be pulling back and monitoring virtually everything via GPS trackers and occasional comm check-ins. Sutton was just paranoid enough that if one of them showed up with even the hint of back-up, the whole mission could fall through, with disastrous consequences for Callen and Jess. "You guys will be out there pretty much alone, with too little back-up."

Kensi agreed. "If something goes down, it'll take us a while to get to you."

"We'll be fine," Callen said. Then, looking at each one of them for a moment, "I'll be fine."

"I still don't see why I can't partner with you on this," Kensi said, almost pouting.

"Because the Harpers are _fraternal twins_, Kenz," Callen said. "And while you are getting more and more grown-up every day, you don't look anywhere near my age."

"And thank God for that," she said, with exaggerated relief.

Callen chucked and continued. "Jess is my age, and we look close enough in physical characteristics to pass for siblings."

"She's not a field operative and she can barely shoot a gun," Sam said, worry evident in his tone. "She sits behind a desk all day. And even you said she's not the kind of person you want in the field. Has she ever really done this before?"

Callen sat up straight in his chair, put his elbows on the desk and folded his hands. "I asked Hetty the same question," he began. "Seems that two years ago, Jess' best friend – who just happens to be NCIS Special Agent Tony DiNozzo – went missing. He was on a covert mission for then-Director Shepard that was way off the grid. No back-up, no nothing. Gibbs was out of the picture then, and Jess couldn't talk him into coming back. Shepard couldn't … or wouldn't … send a team. The FBI said no, and Jess had no one to turn to."

Callen continued. "So she spent three days working every angle, contact and remote possibility she had until she found him. Deep in the Allegheny National Forest, being held by the advance team of the Portuguese Mafia, who were setting up shop and thought he was someone else. By this time, NCIS and the FBI were looking too, but they weren't sharing intel."

"No big surprise there," Sam tossed in.

Callen continued. "Jess took what she had and assembled a three-person special ops squad AND a helicopter pilot – all of whom volunteered their time, commandeered the needed equipment, and took on a rescue mission for someone they'd never met. This invisible team went into the forest, pulled out a badly injured and nearly dead DiNozzo and had him in a hospital in DC before NCIS and the FBI even showed up in the woods. And it practically took a Congressional hearing to get the details, because no one ever officially saw or said anything."

Kensi perked up. "That all actually happened?"

Callen nodded.

"I thought it was urban legend."

"Nope," Callen said. "I saw the classified casefile. It happened. She did it on her own, with no agency help, based on some intricate network of friends, contacts and favors. You look up 'resourceful' in the dictionary and you find her picture." He looked at Sam. "I'll be fine."

At that moment, Hetty walked into the bullpen with Jess trailing behind. "Mr. Callen," she said, clapping her hands together, "we need to discuss wardrobe for you and Miss Kennedy."

Callen and Jess looked at each other with just a touch of apprehension in their expressions.

"You put us in matching outfits and I'm gone," Callen said.

"Right behind you, bro," Jess confirmed.

"Oh, don't be silly," Hetty said. "You're _fraternal_ twins." And then she walked towards the wardrobe area, as if that explained it all.

Callen stood up and looked at Jess. "After you, Lissa."

Jess stepped aside and waved him ahead of her. "On your six, Matty."


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

The day of the mission had finally arrived, after nearly a week of steady work by everyone on the team. Jess and Callen were receiving last-minute instructions before heading out for what everyone hoped would be a quick and easy capture of their target.

The meeting had been set for the south entrance to Angeles National Forest. The upside was that the team was familiar with the area. The downside was that cell and other comm signal strength was spotty there, so constant contact between OSP and Callen was not guaranteed. There had, however, been time for Sam and Eric to install a documentation camera that had coverage of both the meeting area and the approach. They'd be able to watch Callen and Jess arrive, as well as watch the initial meeting go down. The camera was a remarkable piece of "Eric Engineering", as Jess called it, having an astonishing clarity for something that was designed to grab its power from the sun, link to a series of satellites for transmission, and look like part of a Douglas fir. Eric was very proud of it.

The car Callen and Jess would be driving was outfitted with everything from bulletproof glass to break-away seat belts to two hidden firearms. Neither Callen nor Jess would be armed upon meeting Sutton; Lissa and Matty had never been known to carry guns, and that would have been an instant give-away.

Callen and Jess had been given satellite cell phones, able to transmit on almost any signal, and the phones had been pre-programmed with a myriad of reporting and emergency numbers so that virtually anyone on the team – or any nearby emergency location – could be accessed with no more than two keystrokes. Jess had added Tony's number to her phone, just in case.

And finally, both Callen's and Jess' wardrobe had been constructed with some special features. Button cameras were not practical with the spotty reception, but the seams of Callen's khaki pants and Jess' jeans had been adapted to include basic GPS trackers.

"I feel like a cross between MacGyver and the most prepared Boy Scout on earth," Jess said, as she joined Callen at the car, dressed in her newly tricked-out wardrobe.

"And stylish, too," Callen said with a grin.

Jess had an almost overwhelming urge to call Tony and let him know what was happening. She'd never undertaken anything – any job, vacation or assignment – without telling him first. It was a deal they had. And it felt unsettling, somehow, to be heading out with him not knowing.

"You okay?" Callen asked, as they drove up to the meeting location.

"Yeah," Jess said, a little unconvincingly. "Just butterflies, I guess. I don't do this kind of thing as often as you guys."

"I get butterflies too," Callen assured her. "I worry when I don't."

"I just feel like …" Jess took a deep breath and blew it out, calming her nerves. "I wish we were done."

"Soon enough, grasshopper," Callen said, with an encouraging smile. Then he turned off the access road and began the final approach.

* * *

Meanwhile, the rest of the team took their positions. "I don't like being this far away," Sam complained, as he and Kensi took up their spot nearly 10 miles outside the north forest entrance.

"I don't like it either, Mr. Hanna," Hetty confirmed from the ops center, "but it can't be helped. There is only one main road in and out; any closer and you risk being seen."

"Which is why Sutton chose it," Sam grumbled.

Kensi tolerated his bad humor, knowing full well that it was Sam's way of coping with the adrenaline pumping through his system and his anxiety of having his partner out there with someone other than him. It's not that he didn't trust that Callen could take care of himself or that Jess could carry her weight. He just preferred to be in the middle of the op as opposed to sitting in an SUV 10 miles away.

Per Sutton's very detailed instructions, the plan was for "Matty" and "Lissa" to be met at the rendezvous point by two of Sutton's deputies. The men would search the car, verify the twins' identities against the information provided to Sutton by their brother, and then drive with them to meet Sutton. Sutton had insisted on meeting them alone. He would have his deputies ride in "Matty's" car to a secure location, where he would be waiting. Sutton would receive the goods from "Matty" and pay him, by which point Sam and Kensi, backed up by a small Special Ops team, would be standing by to come in and arrest the entire group. Callen and Jess would be arrested as well, to maintain their covers. Once Sutton was on his way to questioning, Callen and Jess would be released, and the operation would be concluded. Callen would rejoin the team for Sutton's questioning while Jess worked with the recovery team to dismantle his operation.

The intel Jess had gathered from Alex Harper told them that Sutton's headquarters were housed north of the forest, near the town of Pearblossom, in a warehouse area where he was also believed to be storing much of his stolen merchandise. Alex Harper had told them that Sutton would almost certainly take them there, leading them through the forest as a camouflage exercise. Sutton used this route often, particularly during dry season. Most of the forest would be blocked off to hikers and campers due to fire warning levels, so there would be no civilians. Sutton had "associates" in the Park Service who granted him access to the otherwise blocked routes.

Sam and Kensi would wait near the north entrance and monitor the SUV Callen was driving. They would approach the meeting point as soon as they received confirmation that "Matty" had handed over the intel to Sutton. Callen and Jess would take their payment and leave, which would trigger the outlying teams to move forward and take Sutton, along with anyone else nearby. Sutton's insistence that he meet the Harper twins alone, and Alex Harper's confirmation that this was "classic Sutton – working alone so that no one else ever sees him do anything", made the plan feasible.

"Forest-cam coming on line," Eric said, from his position in the ops center with Nate and Hetty.

Just driving into frame was a black SUV. The team watched intently as the vehicle came to a stop at the rendezvous point and the driver emerged. To everyone's surprise, the driver was Sutton, accompanied by one other man, who was armed.

"Callen," Eric said, quickly, passing on the change in status before the meet. "Sutton is at the meet. He just got out of the car."

Callen turned to Jess. She looked confused. "Why change his M.O. at this point?" she asked. "According to Alex, he's never been at any first meeting – he's too suspicious about who might be watching."

Eric's next message confused them even further. "And it looks like the man with him is Andrew Korianski."

"From the Pentagon?" Jess said, a feeling of dread growing as she rapidly tried to figure out what was happening. "He was demoted and re-assigned when Sutton was discharged," she said. "Eric …"

Callen's mind was racing as he slowly approached the rendezvous spot, buying as much time as they could.

Eric was typing quickly, with records popping up on the screen like bullets. "According to his records, Korianski was reassigned to a supply depot in South America," Eric confirmed. "That's where he was sent after his JAG trial. There's nothing here to contradict that. He's not on vacation, medical leave, away from base, AWOL … records show that he was present at roll call _today_."

There were only a few seconds for everyone on the team to digest this information before the camera picked up Callen's car approaching the meeting site. The team watched as Callen and Jess got out of the car and walked towards Sutton.

Watching Callen approach the clearing brought Vance's warning back to the forefront for Sam. "This will seem easier than it is."

Sam was getting a very bad feeling about it all.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

Callen and Jess each took a deep breath, got out of the car and walked towards Sutton. Korianski frisked them lightly to be sure they weren't carrying, but didn't search any further than that. Jess couldn't remember ever having met Korianski at the Pentagon, but she was still relieved to see that he didn't seem to recognize her. She had fully vetted Sutton to be certain that they'd never come into contact with each other. But she hadn't done the same for Applewhite, Korianski or Baker, since they were stationed out of the country and considered non-entities as far as this operation was concerned.

They all shook hands and made basic introductions. It all seemed very amiable, with "Matty" and "Lissa" each registering the appropriate amount of shock at Sutton himself being at the rendezvous point. The three stood talking for a few moments, and then the discussion seemed to get a bit less friendly as Korianski started walking back towards Callen's car.

"Kensi … what are they saying?" Sam asked.

"I can't see it all, but it looks like Sutton is telling them to get in the SUV," Kensi said, reading lips. "Callen is arguing that that wasn't the plan, and Jess is saying something about the car. Sutton is saying that it will be fine where it is."

"Sutton's body language is totally non-threatening," Nate offered. "Callen and Jess appear on edge, but that's to be expected with the sudden change in plans."

Korianski reached into Callen's car and tossed Jess her bag.

"He's asking if they need anything else," Kensi continued.

Callen started to walk back to the car, but was called back by Sutton. There was a moment of indecision – a moment when Sam knew Callen was weighing the possibility of trying to grab Sutton right there.

"Don't do it, G," Sam said, under his breath. "Don't try it alone."

"He won't," assured Nate from the ops center. "Too risky. He could end up with Jess as a hostage, or both of them dead. There's no way to know who's hiding in the woods. He knows that."

"This was a bad plan," Sam said. "We needed more time."

"We had more time than we usually do," Kensi said, trying to help Sam see that this op was running no more or less smoothly than any other. "It's not the first time the bad guys have changed a plan at the last minute."

Sam knew she was right, but he still didn't like it.

The group watched as Callen turned, somewhat reluctantly, they thought, to rejoin Jess at the SUV. He and Jess both kind of shrugged at each other, and agreed to ride with Sutton. Callen turned to look back at his car, and cast a glance up to the forest-cam. Finally, the entire group got into Sutton's vehicle.

"We just lost tracking on Callen's car," Nate said, stating the obvious. Then, "Does he still have his keys?"

Eric punched up the tracker on the keychain. "Nope," Eric said. "Callen's moving; keys are standing still."

"OK," Kensi said, as the trio watched the SUV drive out of frame. "But Jess has her bag and her cellphone, and G's got a phone, right?"

"Yeah," Eric said, punching up more data. "But I'm not getting anything from either of them. Either Sutton's SUV is blocking the signal, or he's got their stuff and he's disabled it all."

"What about the mascara in Jess' make-up bag?" Kensi asked. That had been Hetty's 'something extra' – a tube of mascara that also held an emergency communications transmitter.

"Transmitting, but standing still," Eric said, with frustration. "Why would they toss the make-up?"

Hetty looked at the screens, clearly concerned. "And the tracking dots in their clothing?"

"They're transmitting," Eric said, "but it's spotty. The signal isn't strong."

"Well," Hetty said with a sigh. "I suppose that's better than nothing."

"And they didn't find the guns in the car," Nate added, "so the cover is still good."

The meeting had not gone at all as they'd hoped. Sutton had no reason to believe that Matty and Lissa would in any way double-cross him; maybe he was simply more paranoid than they'd anticipated. Or maybe there were more surprises on the way.

* * *

In Sutton's SUV, Jess and Callen sat in the back seat as Korianski rifled through Jess' bag. The politeness and good humor of the Sutton team upon first meeting had been replaced by a gruffness toward their two guests. Korianski pulled out Jess' cellphone and disabled the GPS, then asked for Callen's phone and did the same thing. He tossed Jess' car keys out the window along with a small bag of make-up.

"Really?" Jess said, with annoyance. "You think I'm hiding some high-tech recording device in my mascara?" The man looked back at her with a threatening expression on his face. "Fine," Jess said, crossing her arms and looking out the window. "But if we're all still together in the morning, you're going to wish I had that."

Callen smiled. "You will," he agreed, keeping his voice light. "She's scary without make-up."

Sutton chuckled. Korianski tossed the purse back to Jess and turned to face front. Jess looked at Callen as the SUV continued to drive into the woods. Callen gave her an encouraging smile and started running "what if…" scenarios in his head.

* * *

Back at base, the rest of the OSP team was playing the all too familiar waiting game.

Eric had kept the forest-cam focused on Callen's car, but no one had come to search it or move it. That seemed to be a good sign. No one was checking to be sure that Matty and Lissa Harper were who they said they were. The car had been backstopped as completely as Callen and Jess had, with the appropriate registration, service records, and glove compartment props. Even the trash in the back seat included the right types of receipts, ticket stubs, and post-it note messages to show that Matty and Lissa shared their car and drove it often. Hetty toyed with the idea of sending someone in to retrieve the vehicle – or, at the very least, remove the firearms – but decided against it. Just because they couldn't see anyone didn't mean no one was watching.

The team at the ops center and the team in the field could do nothing more as they waited for Sutton's vehicle to emerge from the Forest at the north entrance. It was about a 45-minute drive through the forest using the route Sutton appeared to be on, but that meant no stops, no deviations. They hadn't expected Sutton to be there, so it was possible that he'd decided to do the deal in the forest, under the cover of the trees. If that were the case, they would have to wait for Callen and Jess to be taken back to their car, where the support teams could nab them as they left. Provided, of course, that Sutton made the return trip.

Eric was still getting intermittent signals from the tracking devices in Callen's clothing, but nothing they could bank on for pinning down an exact location.

"They're all over the place," Eric said, watching the tracking map.

When the clock hit the 90-min mark, it was clear that the operation had changed significantly. "They should have been out by now," Sam said. "On their way to the Pearblossom buildings. Something's wrong."

Hetty, reluctantly, had to agree. She directed one of the back-up units to move from their location to the north entrance to cover, just in case Sutton re-emerged. Then she ordered Sam and Kensi to return. Sam refused, preferring to stay closer to the last place they'd seen Callen.

"You're needed back at base, Sam," Hetty said, against his objections. "Without eyes or ears on Mr. Callen, you are now team leader."

Sam and Kensi exchanged a glance as Sam started the SUV and headed for home as Hetty completed the thought.

"And it would appear that we need a back-up plan, and quickly."


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

By the time Sam and Kensi returned to base, Hetty, Nate and Eric were working to locate any signal they could from Callen and Jess. The transmitters sewn into their clothes were no longer transmitting, but Eric was quick to point out that this was just as likely to be due to the terrain and forest cover as to something more sinister. They'd been the back-up to the back-up. No one had anticipated that the tracking dots would be the singular bit of communications equipment they'd be relying on.

As Eric worked to establish some sort of visual or audio trace, Sam and Kensi began poring over topographical maps of the area, looking for likely stopping points or hidden compounds. Nate was scanning Sutton's blog, trying to eke out any clues. Hetty and Vance conferred via phone, discussing options.

Suddenly, a search that Eric had been running in the background pinged that he'd gotten a hit. He opened the file and read. As he continued reading, he said to himself, "This isn't good. This is not good." He put up two photos and turned to the group.

"Guys …" Eric began, trying to draw the group's attention. "GUYS!"

Sam and Kensi turned to look at the photos on the screen.

"Yeah, Eric, we know," Sam said impatiently. "Matty and Lissa Harper. So what?"

"Matty, yes," Eric said. Then, tentatively, "Lissa … maybe not." That got their attention.

"What?" Kensi moved towards the screen and expanded a small photo of what appeared to be an office Christmas party.

"I was pulling photos to populate Laura March's file. And this just showed up on someone's Facebook page." Eric put the enlarged section of the Christmas party photo and up next to the file photo of Lissa Harper. "The caption on the photo identifies her as Laura March, but it's the same person," he said.

"Can't be," Kensi said. "Lissa Harper is Laura March?"

"More accurately," Eric corrected, "it looks like Laura March is Lissa Harper." Pictures from the Harper file started popping up on the screen. "Every photo in Melissa Harper's file is of the person in the Christmas photo. The person the caption says is Laura March." He turned to look at Sam and Kensi as Nate began running a database search and Hetty ended her call with Vance and walked over to the screen.

"We took Melissa Harper's prints when she and her brother arrived at the boathouse," Hetty said. "Did you run them?"

"Um ... no," Eric said, with a worried expression. "We were too busy setting up Callen and Jess' backgrounds. They matched the prints Jess had in her files, which confirmed Lissa's ID."

Sam took a step towards Eric, and was planning to say something, when Hetty reminded him, "Standard procedure, Mr. Hanna. We do not mistrust our partners at other agencies."

"Did anyone do a background check on Kennedy?" Sam snapped, trying hard not to project the anger he was feeling. Or the fear that was growing inside him that his partner was now in more danger than they'd anticipated.

"I have her file back to age five, Mr. Hanna," Hetty said. "Unless we suspect that she turned double agent in kindergarten, she's clean."

Sam calmed down a little at Hetty's serious stare and authoritative tone.

Kensi joined the conversation. "It looks like Matty is who he's supposed to be and Sutton is who he's supposed to be, so the wild card here is Lissa."

"Run Melissa Harper's prints now, Eric," Hetty ordered.

"Put them into the pool as soon as this started," he said. "They're running. No matches so far."

"Do we have Laura March's record card from the Pentagon?" Hetty continued.

"Not yet," Eric said, as he pulled up the Government Employee database. "But we will."

The group was silent as Eric worked his way through various databases and record depositories.

After a few moments, two fingerprint files appeared on the screen. Both were tagged "Laura March" and included the same Government ID number. The prints, however, did not match. This was clear even to the naked eye.

"I've got two sets here," Eric said. "One from Laura March's Pentagon file on the day she was hired and one from her deep background file."

"The Pentagon would have run the deep background prior to her being hired, and probably without her knowing," Hetty said.

The fingerprint file search 'pinged' to indicate a match. Eric deflated just a little bit. "The Melissa Harper prints we took three days ago match the set of Laura March prints on deep background," he said. "They're the same person."

"The newer prints are different," Eric said. "She must have uploaded a new set to throw us off."

"She got sloppy," Sam said, "and didn't check to see if any other prints were out there."

"So then," Hetty asked, "where is the real Melissa Harper?"

Nate walked over from the desk he'd been working at. A small news item popped up on the screen. "She died when she was five days old," he said. "Never really survived the birth. There was a birth certificate on file, but not much else. March must have assumed Lissa's identity when she disappeared from the Pentagon. Or maybe specifically for this one operation."

Hetty was angry. "How did we miss this?"

"We had no reason to run Melissa Harper's prints against anything," Kensi said. "She was here in person. We had every piece of ID back to her birth certificate. She walked in with her twin brother, who also confirmed her identity."

"Plus, we had a fully vetted casefile from the Pentagon and confirmation from Alex Harper," Nate added.

The group was silent as this new revelation sunk in. It was Sam who broke the silence.

"It was a set-up," he said. "All of it. From the beginning."

"They just missed one photo," said Eric. "And one set of prints." He spun around to look at the rest of the team. "We backstopped Callen better, I promise."

"It doesn't matter now," Nate said. "If Matty is in on it, then their cover is already blown."

"So then," Sam asked, still trying to keep his anger and frustration in check. "If Laura March is Lissa Harper, who the hell is THIS?" He pointed to Jess' file photo of Laura March.

"I don't know," Eric said, a little helplessly.

"Find out," ordered Hetty.

It was nearly a half-hour later when Eric finally said, "Got it! She's an LA actress named Carol Grayson," Eric said, bringing a headshot up to view.

"Nate … Kensi … boathouse … now!" Sam ordered, as he rushed out of the room. Hetty looked at the screen and then down at Eric, who was, for once, at a loss for words.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

As revelations about the Sutton mission were taking place at OSP, Callen and Jess continued their trip deep into the Angeles National Forest. They were not taking the normal tourist route through the area. They were using maintenance roads and restricted routes, with Sutton doubling back and looping around, totally confusing Callen and Jess as to where, exactly, they were, how far they had traveled, and even which direction they were moving in. It seemed that Sutton was checking every possible road to be sure that there were no surprises. Callen knew that Sam would be waiting up near Pearblossom. And he knew that by this point, Sam would know that something was wrong – it was taking them too long to get out of the Forest.

"Any chance you could let us in on where we're going?" Callen asked amiably. "It's feeling a little like an E Ticket ride back here." His request was met with silence.

"Any chance of a bathroom any time soon?" Jess asked, deciding that maybe the best tactic was just to be the 'girl' here.

Korianski turned from the passenger seat. "Relax," he said. "We're nearly there." Then, looking at Jess, "you'll just have to hold it." The comments were made in a more-or-less friendly tone, but the undercurrent was clearly 'we are in control here, so sit back and behave'.

Callen tried again. "Come on Sutton, we've been working with you for years. What's with all the cloak and dagger stuff? Tossing our car keys, taking our phones, taking the 'scenic route' – we have more to be worried about than you if we get caught. You're a ghost in the wind; we're the ones everyone knows."

Sutton glanced up in the rearview mirror and locked eyes with Callen. "Just sit back and enjoy the scenery, Matty" he said, in a moderately friendly tone. "You'll understand once we get there."

Callen looked at Jess and then felt for the small transmitter chip sewn into the seam of his khakis. He hoped it was still sending a signal.

* * *

"I had to!" Matty yelled, as Sam sat angrily across the table. "They threatened to kill my brother. I had to play along and pass off March as my sister. I had no choice."

Nate and Kensi watched from the main room.

"What did Carol Grayson have to say?" Kensi asked Nate.

"She was stunned and shaken when I asked about her part in all of this," he said. "She'd been hired by the Harpers – Alex and Matty – to play the role of a woman in what she thought was a pilot for a new procedural about siblings trying to reconnect in prison. She showed me a copy of her contract and I spoke to her agent. She was paid regularly and sent scripts and scenarios. They even held rehearsals and took promo shots. Which, of course, ended up in our files as photos of Laura March. She had no idea."

Sam stormed out of the interrogation room, leaving Matty behind. "He's not telling us everything," Sam said.

"He's afraid for his brother's life," Nate offered. "He knows the plan is falling apart and he's trying hard to keep up his end of the bargain so that Sutton can't accuse him of giving up the whole organization."

Sam thought for a moment. "Cut him loose," he said.

Kensi jumped up from her place at the table. "What?"

"We tag him and cut him loose. If he's in on the plan, he'll report back to Sutton and March. We can follow him and find them."

Nate and Kensi both looked at Sam. "And what if he's not in on the plan and he just goes home?" Kensi asked.

Sam glanced up at the monitor that showed Matty fidgeting at the interrogation table. "He's in on it," Sam said. "I can feel it."

* * *

Back in Sutton's vehicle, Callen and Jess were frustrated.

Jess was doing her best to memorize terrain and to remember names of trailheads and recreational areas that they were passing, but they were doubling back so often that it was hard to keep it all straight. She knew that if they were able to get a message out to someone, any clue she could give would help.

Callen was trying to determine the best course of action. If they were still transmitting their location, he knew that Sam would be planning a rescue. Even if they weren't still transmitting, Sam would be planning a rescue. Callen had to anticipate what he thought Sam would do and try to complement that plan.

"Alex said to tell you hello," Callen said, as he continued to try and build a rapport with Sutton. "Lissa and I went to visit him last week."

Sutton didn't respond.

"He looks good," Callen continued. "Could probably use a couple of days out here – in the fresh air. Camping."

"Alex _**is**_ still safe, right?" Jess said, noting Sutton's lack of response. "He didn't seem worried when we saw him, but he could have been covering to make us feel better."

Sutton took a deep breath, as if he were trying to figure out how to answer. Jess and Callen exchanged a confused look. Then Sutton glanced up into the rearview mirror to meet Callen's gaze.

"As long as everything goes as planned today," he said, "your brother will be fine."

"We told him we'd check in with him after the meeting," Jess said, hoping to put a timestamp on their situation and give them somewhere else to be.

"You'll have plenty of time to do that, Lissa," Sutton said, with a smile that didn't look totally genuine. "I know how your big brother worries."

* * *

Sam and Kensi returned to the Ops Center to follow Matty Harper's GPS as he headed away from the boathouse. As Sam had predicted, Matty made a beeline for the Angeles National Forest. He left his truck at the rendezvous point, parked almost directly behind Callen's car. The team watched on Eric's forest-cam as Matty made a call and was picked up moments later by another vehicle.

In the background, Eric growled and then pounded the table with his fist.

Kensi exchanged a glance with Sam. "Eric?" she said.

"There has been no activity at all in any warehouse area in or near Pearblossom," Eric said. "And I know this because there are actually no warehouses in or near Pearblossom. It's all abandoned pear orchards and residential developments. Every warehouse address we got from the Harpers comes up empty. Vacant lots, cemeteries, parking lots. There's, like, nothing there."

"Which means either Alex Harper was wrong about Sutton's destination …" Kensi said.

"Or he's in on it too," Sam completed the thought.

* * *

At long last, Sutton pulled up to a large concrete building. It blended in well with the surrounding rock formations and had just enough tree cover to make it nearly invisible until you were right in front of it. The building was on a ledge, giving the people in the offices there a fairly good view of the rest of the area. There were several supply and storage sheds set up in a clearing below, and a series of camouflage tents and more sheds on the opposite side, banked by rocks and partially hidden by trees. The compound had the feel of a temporary encampment, but had clearly been set up for some time.

"Bathroom's through there," Sutton said, as they entered the building. "Why don't you guys freshen up?" It was less of a question and more of an order. Jess and Callen headed up the hallway and into the room that Sutton had indicated. It seemed to be a storeroom of some sort – or, at least, that's how it was being used. Mostly paper products and office supplies – Jess noticed that many of the items in the room had Pentagon inventory code on them.

"Wait here, please," said one of Sutton's guards. The man left the room and locked the door.

Callen looked at Jess and shrugged in confusion. "What the HELL is going on?"


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

As they waited to see what would happen next, Callen and Jess explored the small room they'd been placed in. They were afraid to speak too much, not knowing if the room was bugged. Sutton's paranoia was apparently rubbing off.

Callen shook his head and sighed. "I seem to be finding myself in a lot of storerooms lately."

"Really …" Jess said, cocking her head to the side. "Any favorites?"

"Nothing I'd give a Michelin rating to."

The door opened, and Korianski appeared, with another of Sutton's deputies. He looked at Callen and Jess and said, "Matt … Melissa … come with us, please," with a smile that was just a little too bright and a little too fake. Callen and Jess suddenly felt like they were on the outside of a very inside joke. They glanced at each other as they were led to an office. Korianski knocked, and Sutton's voice invited them in. Callen opened the door and entered, Jess behind him.

Sutton stood at a desk that was covered with blueprints, plans, file folders, envelopes, photographs and computer print-outs. Callen scanned the desktop quickly, and saw photos of State Department personnel and world leaders, along with a map of what appeared to be an office building and one of a transportation route. On top of the papers were a gun, an open box of ammunition, his and Jess' cellphones, his wallet, and the envelope holding the aircraft plans. He looked Sutton straight in the eye.

"What's going on, Sutton?" Callen said, angrily. "You shove us in a car, take our phones, toss out our stuff, and throw us in a storeroom. I thought we were here to make a deal, not play spy vs. spy."

"You're right," Sutton said. He appeared to be about three seconds away from bursting into laughter. "I should explain." He turned to the door behind him, which led to a second office area. "Guys!" he yelled. "Come on in, will you?"

The door opened, and the real Matty and Melissa Harper walked in.

Callen and Jess stood there, dumbstruck. Had Sutton somehow managed to kidnap Matty and Lissa Harper right out from under the noses of NCIS?

"Hello, Agent Callen," Matty said with a swagger, instantly removing any thought Callen might have had that the Harpers were here against their will. Matty seemed to be wholly and totally amused at fact that he and his sister had so completely put something over on them.

Lissa Harper stepped forward next, looking just as amused as her brother. She extended a hand to Jess. "I should introduce myself," Lissa said. "Laura March."

Jess was so shocked that her knees buckled and she lost her footing. Callen reached forward to grab her, but was restrained by Matty. Jess stumbled against Sutton's desk, nearly spilling half the contents on the floor. She slammed her hands on the desk top as she recovered quickly. "You son of a bitch!" she yelled. Callen couldn't believe what he was seeing. The last thing he needed was for Jess to fly off the handle. He got the anger level, really … he did. But this could not turn into a full-out confrontation.

"Calm down," he said sternly, a bit under his breath, but still sounding very much like an order.

Jess ignored him, looking like she was going to climb over the desk to wring Sutton's neck. She blindly reached for the gun, which Sutton snatched off the desk quickly. Then Sutton, Matty and Lissa all burst out laughing. And Lissa … or, rather, March … grabbed Jess by the back of her shirt. The two struggled briefly.

"ENOUGH!" Sutton yelled.

Jess pulled herself free and adjusted her shirt. "Bitch," she said to March, who was still chuckling.

"Takes one to know one," March replied.

Now that order had been restored, Sutton looked at the assembled group.

"So …," he said, "now that everyone knows everyone, you're probably curious about why you're here." He focused on Jess. "How IS the Pentagon these days?" he said with a sneer. "I understand that there is quite a lot of planning going on for the Global Security Summit."

Suddenly, it all became clear. "THAT is what this is about?" Jess said, incredulously.

"Damn right," Sutton said, now deadly serious. He switched his gaze to Callen. "I believe the colloquial term is 'sleeper cell'." Back to Jess. "Five years of planning was going like clockwork, people were in place. And then – typical bureaucracy – it was taking forever for someone to discover all the missing inventory. I mean … good God, we left enough clues."

Sutton rolled his eyes and sighed, then continued. "But finally, you all caught on, and we were able to trigger Alex, who led you on to Matty, who brought you here."

Sutton continued, sounding smug. Like he was the smartest man on earth. "We didn't count on getting a federal agent in the bargain though," he said, looking at Callen. "Not sure what to do with you. We were just going for a Pentagon score." Sutton briefly considered Callen, as if he was trying to determine what to do with an extra box of cookies. "Trade him, maybe," Sutton mused. "We have a lot of people in a lot of prisons. Someone will want to make a deal." Then he looked back at Jess. "You'll have some value too, when this is all over. Although it'd be a lot more fun to send you back to the rings with a little note that says 'Return to Sender'." He laughed at his own joke.

"I'm sorry," Callen said with thinly veiled annoyance. "Anyone want to share? You know … for the non-Pentagon kid in the room?"

Jess turned towards him, her face tight and angry. "Every five years, there is a Global Security Summit – world leaders, G8 … that kind of thing. The next one is scheduled for DC. First time since 9/11 that it's been on US soil. Security is, obviously, tight. The biggest piece of it being run by the Pentagon Operations Office. We're doing all of the travel routes, credentials, car assignments … all the logistical stuff."

"So you're hoping to … what?" Callen asked, focusing on Sutton. "Disrupt the talks? Kidnap members of the committees? Steal security intel?"

"All of the above," Sutton said. "You must not be as dumb as you look."

"Can't quite say the same for you," Jess said, drawing Sutton's focus back. "You really think I'm just going to hand over the operations plan?"

"Well," Sutton said, feigning disappointment, "I was actually hoping to get Chandler. He'd have been my first choice for 'Pentagon expert who can be bought', but you'll do. And we'll get what we need. Don't doubt that."

Sutton nodded toward the office door with his head. Matty opened it and Sutton's deputies returned. "Cuff them and put them somewhere safe," Sutton said. He turned back to his prisoners. "I'm sorry I can't offer you better accommodations," he said.

Callen and Jess were roughly cuffed behind their backs and then unceremoniously tossed into a small empty room that appeared to have once been a classroom of some sort. There was an old and much-used chalkboard on one wall, and a series of high, small windows near the ceiling, barred from the inside. Two empty bookshelves appeared to be bolted to the walls. There was no other furniture. As the door closed behind them, Jess slid to the floor. Callen stood opposite her.

"Well," he said, with a touch of reprimand in his tone, "that was fun. I don't remember you mentioning your temper."

Jess looked up at him with a small smile. "Yeah … sorry about that. I can get pissy when I miss lunch."

Callen looked at her incredulously. "You could have gotten us killed," he nearly yelled. "Reaching for his gun? What was that?"

"Reflex," she said. "Sorry."

Callen noticed that she was squirming in her corner … it looked like she was trying to scratch her back on the wall. "Got an itch?" he asked, getting frustrated with her strange behavior.

Jess looked up at him. "Cellphone," she said.

Callen finally understood the earlier hysterics. "Nice," he said. "And where'd that come from?"

"Snagged it off Sutton's desk when I 'fell'," she said, clearly proud of herself. "He should notice it's missing in about 90 seconds, which means I have just enough time to …"

Callen watched as she squinted a bit in concentration. He could see her hands moving behind her and he could hear the click of cellphone keys. She finished what she was doing and quickly slid the phone across the room and under a cabinet, hoping it would stay hidden and Sutton would just assume that it had dropped in his office.

"You can text behind your back?" he asked, both amused and impressed.

"You can't?" Jess replied, innocently.

At that moment, Sutton burst in, followed by Korianski. "Give me the phone!" Sutton ordered.

Both Callen and Jess looked at him but remained silent. Korianski yanked Jess from the floor and frisked her roughly. "Hey!" she protested as his hands wandered. "I don't think I could hide a cellphone in some of the places you're looking."

He pushed her back to the floor and grabbed Callen, frisking him. "Nice to meet you too," Callen said with a smile. Korianski backhanded him and pushed him to the floor.

"Nothing!" Korianski and Sutton did a cursory look around the room and were about to begin a more complete search when another guard came in. He whispered something to Sutton and the three men left.

"You okay?" Jess said, as Callen tried to wipe a trickle of blood from his face with his shoulder.

"I'm good," Callen assured. "Nice save, though … with the phone," he said with a nod. "You live up to the hype."

"Thanks." Jess paused and then looked at Callen from her spot across the room. "I think I got a message out," she said, with the most optimistic tone she could muster.

"To …?" Callen asked, hoping for Sam or Hetty or even Vance.

"Tony," Jess said. "Special Agent Tony DiNozzo," she clarified. "NCIS in DC."

Callen's face fell. As happy as he was that a distress call had been sent, he was somewhat disappointed that she hadn't chosen to contact someone in, you know, the same time zone.

Jess saw his reaction. "Trust me," she said.


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13 **

Tony returned to his desk to the insistent buzzing of his cellphone. "Great," he said. "What now?" It was Saturday afternoon and it was far busier than a Saturday should be. They'd picked up a weekend case that involved hours of tedious research and grubby field work. They'd ended up handing it off, but it had still cost them all the majority of the day. He was looking forward to kind of coasting through the last hour of the afternoon if at all possible. Ziva and McGee were out delivering some evidence to DC PD, after which they were free to head home. He was stuck there until Gibbs got out of his meeting with the Director. It had been quiet for about an hour, and Tony wanted it to stay that way. He toyed with the idea of not even looking at the message, but the "good agent" part of him won out, and he clicked to read the text.

"SOS OSP PNCHBWL JJJ"

Tony stared at the message for a few seconds, trying to make sense of it. It had originated from an unfamiliar number, but the last three letters, "JJJ" meant that it was Jess. She'd started signing off that way when Jenny Shepard had become director. Jenny tended to sign off as "J", and Tony had mistaken one "J" for the other just one too many times. He tried to send a return message for more info, but his text bounced back, with a "not receiving" error message.

Tony read the message again and tried to make sense of it. Then he snapped his phone shut and headed upstairs. He burst through the door into the Director's office, Vance's secretary trailing behind. Gibbs was at the table; the two men had papers spread over half the table's surface.

"Agent DiNozzo," Vance said, nodding an 'okay' to his secretary and watching her return to her desk. "This had better be good."

"Oh, I think it is, Director," Tony said, flipping his phone open to share the message. He slid the phone across the table. It stopped just in front of Gibbs and Vance, so that they were both able to see the text. "Is there a reason I'm getting an SOS call from my friend Jess and the Office of Special Projects?"

* * *

Ten minutes later, Vance, Gibbs and Tony were sitting in MTAC, awaiting a video conference with OSP in Los Angeles.

"Yes, Director," Hetty said, as the ops center came up on the screen. "What can we do for you?"

"It seems, Henrietta," Vance began, "that your special Pentagon guest has managed to get a distress call through to our Agent DiNozzo. What exactly is going on out there?"

Hetty sighed and looked back at the rest of the team. "We have lost track of Agent Callen and Miss Kennedy, Leon. It would seem that we have all been a bit bamboozled by our fraternal Harper twins."

"What?" Tony said, confused, looking at Gibbs.

"You'll be read in shortly, DiNozzo," Vance said, with an edge to his voice. "For the time being, just go with it." Then, to Hetty, "Go on."

"They took their meeting with Sutton, but he changed the plan and took them with him, instead of the other way around," Hetty continued. "And we have just discovered that Melissa Harper is not who we thought she was. She is, in fact, Laura March." She adjusted her line of sight to be looking at Tony. "The Reader's Digest version, Agent DiNozzo," she said, calmly but gravely, "is that our agent Callen and your friend Kennedy have been made. And we are now trying to get them back."

"Wait," Tony said, needing a second to get up to speed. "Jess … not in Vegas, but in LA? Not on vacation, but on assignment?"

"Correct," Hetty confirmed.

Tony stared at the screen, laughed ruefully and shook his head. "I swear to God I'll kill her."

Hetty's tone turned deadly serious. "You may not be the only one with that thought, Agent DiNozzo."

* * *

Callen and Jess had been in the old classroom for hours. It was dark outside and late. There was virtually no noise in the compound. A couple of canteens had been tossed into the room. They were still handcuffed and two guards were at the door.

Jess and Callen had searched the entire room – every corner, every piece of trash, every stray item that had made its way there – to see if there was anything they could use. They couldn't even get out of the cuffs. Callen had neglected to replace the bobby pin he normally slid into the back seam of his pants. At the very last minute, Hetty had switched out his normal jeans for the khakis, on the suggestion of Matty Harper. They would, he'd said, be more believable as "Matty-wear."

"I hate these pants," Callen said in frustration. "I'm not a khakis kind of guy."

Jess smiled a little, which made him feel better. She'd been beating herself up about this whole situation ever since they'd been told about Sutton's plan.

"I'm sorry, G," she'd said over and over again once Sutton had left. "This is all my fault. I followed the trail they left exactly the way they wanted me to. And then I had to go the step further and involve OSP." She shook her head and sighed. "I played the perfect patsy, PLUS I handed them a federal agent."

"Alliteration notwithstanding," Callen said with a small grin, "you also managed to snag a cellphone and send a distress call. So I'm willing to call it even."

Jess shook her head and looked up to the ceiling. "My bosses … your bosses … Sam … Tony … they're all going to kill me."

* * *

"I knew this was a bad idea," Sam said, angrily. As the night wore on, everyone began imagining the worst. The longer they went with no intel, the more edgy the two teams got. Sam's voice had taken on a mocking tone. "We do a favor for the Pentagon. We hand over our guy. We should be able to trust them to do the job right." He pounded a fist on the table. "Knew it was a bad idea from the start."

"Oh … you KNEW this was a bad idea?" Tony said, as he approached the screen. "Excuse me, Mr. Righteous Indignation, but you guys didn't find anything hinky in the plan either, or you wouldn't have moved forward." He locked eyes with Sam via VTC. "I've got a friend who's missing too."

"Seriously, everyone, this is my fault," Nate said, joining the conversation. "I spent hours with the Harper twins and never caught on to any sort of subterfuge. Matty has been telling these lies for so long that it's the same as the truth to him. There were no obvious tells … no nervousness, no loss of eye contact. He didn't give up anything." Nate looked at the group. "Same with Laura March."

"Not your fault, Nate," Sam said, staring down Tony from the screen. "We had bad intel from the start. We should have backtraced all the evidence instead of relying on what was handed to us."

"We had no reason to not trust what was given us, Mr. Hanna," Hetty reminded him. "It came from credible sources."

"A credible source who we'd never met before," Sam snapped, frustration clouding his better judgment.

Tony took another step towards the screen. "So this is Jess' fault now?" he said, picking a fight. Tony's eyes narrowed. If Sam had been in the room, the two would have been one click away from a full-out brawl, and everyone present knew it. "What about your guy", Tony taunted. "Your tech expert who backstopped them? He missed it too!"

"Hey!" Eric shouted from the back of the ops center.

"Look," Kensi said, trying for calm. "We both operated on intel from a source we trusted, and we both got played. They must have been planning this – whatever it is – for years. At some point we have to accept the fact that if the good guys know how to create deep cover for someone, so do the bad guys."

Sam opened his mouth to reply.

"Enough!" Gibbs and Hetty interrupted, almost in unison. "There is enough blame to go around," Hetty said, making quick eye contact with everyone on both coasts. "And we will get to that point eventually. But perhaps in the meantime we can work _together_ to find Mr. Callen and Miss Kennedy, as it appears that their cover has been blown but big."

"Where are we?" Gibbs asked impatiently.

Eric sounded frustrated. "They've either got the most effective comm block system in the history of bad guys, or the Angeles National Forest is truly a place where you can get away from it all."

"Director," Hetty said, suddenly. "You mentioned a message." They'd forgotten about the message.

Vance turned to Tony, who quoted, "SOS OSP PNCHBWL".

"PNCHBWL?" Kensi said, puzzled. "Punchbowl. What does that mean?"

"Is it an operation name, or a code word?" Tony asked.

"Nothing that springs to mind," Vance said. "Maybe something they saw or heard."

"A place or a name – a license plate, maybe?" Gibbs offered.

"I'm so not good at puzzles," Nate said, under his breath. Both NCIS groups were lost in thought, trying to figure out the riddle.

Then, suddenly, "Punchbowl!" Eric said, triumphantly. "Of course!" He started typing. "Devil's Punchbowl. It's a hiking area in the middle of the Angeles National Forest." He pulled up a topographical map of the area. "But there's, like, nothing there – no structures, nothing."

"If Jess is sending that as a clue, then it means something," Gibbs said from his chair in MTAC. "Can you get aerial photos?"

"I don't …" Eric began. Then, "Yes!" He pulled up GoogleEarth and started scanning. "Here," he said, putting an aerial photo marked "Devil's Punchbowl CA" up on the screen.

"There are a couple of flat raised areas that could work if there's a compound there," Sam said. "But there's nothing."

The groups on both coasts scanned every inch of the photos looking for any indication that a permanent – or even temporary – structure existed.

"There," Gibbs said, pointing to a spot on the photo. He turned to the MTAC tech. "Can you blow that up?" The photo appeared on the screen in the ops center. "That square area," he continued. "Looks like it could be a building – maybe storage or operations for the hiking trails."

"It's big enough, but there's nothing around it," Tony was saying, almost to himself. "How old are these photos?" he asked.

"About 18 months," Eric said, noting the input date on the screen.

"We need something more current," Tony said. "Is that possible?"

Eric slumped in his chair. "Not without repositioning a satellite."

Hetty walked towards the video conference camera. "Leon?" she said. "I believe it's your turn …"

There was a significant pause as the two stared each other down. Vance sighed and put on his headset. He turned to the MTAC communications staff. "Get me someone at SATCOM," he said.


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Don't ask for a single thing this fiscal year, Agent Gibbs," Vance said as he hung up the phone. "Not a new copier, not a new piece of lab equipment, not even a paper clip. You want something new, ask the Pentagon."

Vance had just finished a lengthy phone call / bargaining session with the director of SATCOM, the organization that controlled the positioning of several military communication and surveillance satellites. He'd had to trade a fairly hefty budget allocation for the repositioning of the satellite directly over the Southern California area, something that did not please him.

Gibbs wasn't sure how he was going to break it to Abby that her new upgraded forensic workstation would need to wait another year. He decided he'd let Tony tell her.

It would be a waiting game for the next hour or so, as the satellite was reprogrammed.

"It never takes this long on TV," Eric said, putting his head down on his console and trying for a short nap.

* * *

Back at the compound, Jess and Callen were feeling a bit forgotten. It had been hours since they'd been surprised with the appearance of Matty and "Lissa" Harper. Sutton had gone through all the trouble to get them out here – why wasn't he _doing_ something with them? They'd used up all of their optimistic chatter, and they were too tired for the banter now anyway. Callen had asked Jess if she was okay so many times that all he had to do was open his mouth to speak and she automatically answered, "I'm fine." They were both hungry.

"Wouldn't mind some blueberry pancakes about now," Callen said with a sigh.

When the door to the room they were being held in suddenly opened, Callen and Jess both jumped in surprise. One of Sutton's deputies walked in followed by Laura March. She smiled apologetically at Callen as the deputy reached over and pulled Jess into a standing position.

"I'm sorry, Agent Callen," March said, not sounding sorry at all. "But we need to borrow your 'sister' for a bit."

Jess looked at Callen and smiled a tentative smile. Neither one of them had any idea what was about to happen. For all they knew, this would be the last time they saw each other.

"See you later," she said.

"I'll be here," he replied.

* * *

"Satellite image coming on line now," Eric said, from the OSP ops center. Everyone was happy to have something else to focus on other than their thoughts of what Callen and Jess were going through.

The picture on the screen was amazingly clear and at nearly the exact spot they'd asked for. Eric called in a few tweaks, and was given control of the zoom feature.

"I am in control of a satellite," he said, with obvious awe and delight. He zoomed in and out a couple of times before Sam walked up behind him and firmly gripped the tech's shoulder, reminding Eric that this was not playtime.

"Right …" Eric said. "Sorry."

He zoomed in on the precise coordinates they'd been at before when they saw the outbuilding. The building appeared again, but this time surrounded by several tents and other structures, plus a half-dozen vehicles.

"This is real-time," Eric said, "so this is what's there now."

"Sutton's SUV," Kensi said, stepping up to the screen.

"And it looks like about two dozen men, probably more," Nate offered.

"We need a full rescue operation mounted within the hour, Agent Hanna," Vance ordered. "I will make sure that the appropriate teams at Edwards Air Force Base are at your disposal."

Sam nodded, and the call ended. As work began in the ops center in LA, Tony turned around to look at Gibbs.

"I can be out there in, what … a couple of hours?" Tony said. "There's got to be transport somewhere I can get on."

"It's not practical Tony," Gibbs said, understanding the man's need to be where his friend was, but also not wanting to have him show up in LA ready to push Hanna's buttons. "I know you're worried about Jess, but there are cases to solve here too. OSP will keep us informed."

Tony opened his mouth to protest, but Director Vance voiced his agreement. "Even if I could get you out there – and that's not likely – the operation will be over by then. I'll call you both as soon as we have any new information." And with that, it was clear that Gibbs and Tony were dismissed.

Tony looked at his two bosses. He knew they were right, but that didn't make it any easier. He'd have to just stand by and wait for whatever came next. He hoped that the OSP team knew what they were doing.

* * *

Callen stood and paced a bit in the locked room he was in. He hated being stuck there, unable to do anything. He'd been in this position before. Another day, another sleeper cell. He thought back to before the drive-by, before he'd been ambushed. He remembered Haziq's place. Sitting there trying to make small talk with – what was her name? Shakira. Sitting with Shakira, waiting for Rivkin, and trying to figure out what going to happen. He hated having to just sit there and wait. Hated it that time; hated it this time. Waiting was not his forte.

He started going over what he knew. Sutton was the handler of a sleeper cell looking to disrupt the Security Summit. Disrupt it in a big way. He had a small army of what appeared to be capable followers. He had guns, supplies, vehicles, ammo. And he had passion – misplaced passion, but passion nevertheless. Sutton also had a god complex. He thought he was better and smarter than everyone around him … that he was indestructible. Which made him more dangerous.

Callen had no way of knowing how much of this information his team had. They had to know that Matty and March were in on it all. They had to know that it had all been a set-up. But did they know about the Summit? Did they know about Sutton?

Jess had gotten a message out. Maybe. To Tony DiNozzo. Callen had heard about Tony – Tony was "the best young agent I've ever worked with", according to Gibbs. Jess had described Tony as the one person who would go to the ends of the earth to find her. Callen knew Sam would do the same for him. The question was, did either Tony or Sam know where to look?

The door opened and Jess was pushed back into the room. She had some telltale bruises on her upper arms and it looked as thought she'd been hit.

"You okay?" Callen asked.

She looked at him with a tired smile. "There's that question again."

He waited. She sighed.

"It wasn't pleasant," she said.

Callen opened his mouth to say something, but Jess slid down to sit next to him and smiled. "Then again," she said, trying to sound a bit lighter, "Surface bruises only. Point for Tony."

Callen raised his eyebrows, inviting an explanation.

"Tony and I have this kind of dumb on-going competition to see who can amass more scars on their body from various daredevil exploits," she clarified. "He's been winning for a while."

"Please do not ever mention that to Sam," Callen said, earnestly. "He'd be all over that, and I don't need anyone playing 'who's been shot more' and trying to up their total."

Jess chuckled. The door opened and Sutton entered, accompanied by Matty and Korianski.

"Your turn, buddy," Matty said, as he and Korianski each grabbed an arm.

"And I'll keep _you_ company," Sutton said, in a voice that indicated that Jess' interrogation was not at all complete. "Maybe you'll learn to share a little more once you have an incentive."

Callen glanced back at Jess and smiled. Then the door closed and Jess was left alone with Sutton.

"You're not going to get what you want, Ed," Jess said, noting how Sutton bristled at the use of his first name. "And even if you did, the disappearance of one of the Ops team will set off all sorts of warning bells. They'd change everything anyway."

"Yeah," Sutton said, casually. "Except that everyone at the Pentagon thinks that you're on vacation in Vegas. The mucky-mucks aren't going to reveal a covert op just because you're missing."

Jess looked down at the ground as she considered his words. He was right. Only one person at the Pentagon knew where she was. And the initial operation was related to inventory theft. It would be totally forgotten once the Summit connection came out. Even if the whole op was blown, her disappearance wouldn't be likely to make it into the record. She'd be collateral damage.

Sutton continued, enjoying his moment of power over her. "A couple of well-timed e-mail messages and one planted newspaper article about how some Pentagon flunkie from DC hit it big at the blackjack table, and everyone would just figure that you took the money and ran." He laughed. "It's not like you've ever been Employee of the Month. They wouldn't blink twice if you never came back."

At that point, the door opened and a flatscreen monitor was placed in the room. The shelf under the monitor held a laptop computer.

"Just in case we want to watch a movie later," Sutton said. "I'm a little behind in my Netflix queue."


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Jess wasn't sure how much time had gone by since Matty had come for Callen. She and Sutton sat in the room, Sutton seeming to play with his iPhone while Jess just … waited. She hated waiting. It was dark outside, judging from the lack of light coming in the high windows. Lights had come on in the building automatically, but otherwise there seemed to be no sound, no movement.

Suddenly, the flatscreen monitor came to life. The picture was of Callen, sitting, tied to a chair in a room similar to the one Jess and Sutton were in. Sutton stood and stretched. He opened the door and pulled a chair in from the hallway.

"Sit, please," he said.

Jess remained where she was.

"Really?" Sutton said. "This is how it's going to be?" He sighed. "Go ahead," he said, giving instructions to someone via the iPhone.

On the screen, Jess saw Callen take a hit in the jaw. He had a trickle of blood running down his chin.

"Sit, please," Sutton repeated.

Jess stood and moved to the chair. She sat.

"Thank you," Sutton said. He reached behind her and undid the handcuffs. "Now," he continued, obviously repeating words he'd said to her earlier, "I know and you know that nearly every piece of information I need is in one singular encrypted file."

"And I know and you know that the encryption changes daily," Jess said, clearly parroting the same answer she'd given earlier. "I know what the encryption was four days ago, but I don't have any idea what it is now."

Sutton hit a button on his phone. In the other room, Callen took another hit – this time on the cheek bone.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" Sutton asked, with quiet anger. "I worked at the Pentagon for years. I know the procedure. They take the current code off the encryption grid and they just go to the next one. Half the spies in the world could track it once they know which grid is activated. The Pentagon is so damned careless with classified information, it's a wonder this country hasn't been invaded yet."

He hit the button on his phone again. This time the hit came lower, slightly out of camera range. Even though Jess couldn't see or hear the hit, she saw Callen's painful reaction.

Sutton pulled out the laptop. "A few keystrokes and you can get into the file," he said. "And my guys will be right behind you to erase any evidence that the file was even breached."

* * *

In the other interrogation room, G was trying to figure out the pattern. He'd sit for a while and then out of nowhere, he'd take a hit. Sit for a while, take a hit. Korianski was clearly getting signals, but Callen couldn't figure out how or from where.

"What's with the random smackdown?" Callen asked him. "Or is it kind of a Pavlovian thing – you hear a bell and hit me?"

Korianski looked at him impassively. "I do what I'm told, when I'm told," he said, by way of explanation.

"And that works for you," Callen said, more statement than question.

"I have no problems with it," Korianski said, looking over at Callen in the chair. He raised his eyebrows and shrugged. "I'm here … you're there … seems like I have the better part of the deal."

Callen couldn't argue. He sat for a few minutes more. Then, "What's happening in the other room?" he asked.

Korianski smiled just a little. "It's hard to tell with Sutton," he said. "He does what he needs to do to get what he wants."

"What does he want?" Callen said, trying to keep the guy talking instead of hitting.

"Information," the other man said. "Maybe more." He chuckled. "If the room starts rockin', don't come knockin'."

Callen thought about that for a minute. He'd been wondering if Sutton would go in that direction. Based on the intel they had, sexual assault wasn't part of Sutton's playbook. His file didn't indicate any inclination towards that at all. But Sutton wasn't the only guy here, and it was likely that a good portion of Sutton's organization had criminal backgrounds. If Sutton needed information and Jess wasn't playing along, anything was possible. Callen suspected that Jess could hold her own, but more in a one-on-one situation than against a couple of guys.

God – he hated being stuck here, tied to a chair, with no options. Where the hell was Sam? Or Tony the Wonder Agent? How many more hours were they going to be stuck here? You'd think that OSP could have searched the whole damn forest by now. What was taking so long?

Callen's reverie was interrupted as his guard threw a low punch to the kidneys and nearly knocked him off his chair.

* * *

"I've had an interesting discussion with Kennedy's boss at the Pentagon," Vance said, back at MTAC. "It seems that she was instrumental in setting up the security and credential run for the upcoming Global Security Summit."

"That's the information that Sutton is after," Tony offered.

"Most likely," Vance replied. "A few minutes ago, Pentagon IT got a millisecond of a ping on Kennedy's internal encrypted file password. On any other day, they'd have dismissed it as an anomaly of the system, but with everything that's going on, they're assuming that someone is trying to access the file."

"Sutton's got them and they're giving him access," Gibbs mused.

"They're not _giving_ it," Tony said, angrily. "He might be getting it, but Jess is definitely not just handing it over."

Gibbs looked over at Tony. "I didn't mean …," he began, with an exasperated tone.

"And neither is Callen," Tony added, giving his boss a hard look.

Gibbs waited a beat and then looked back at Vance before continuing. "Sutton couldn't have predicted that OSP would be brought in on something like this," Gibbs said, changing the subject.

"No," Vance agreed. "The disappearing inventory was most likely the hook to get someone at the Pentagon to come after him. Sutton never figured that anyone else would care. He didn't think it through. Probably thought that the Pentagon would send a team and he could pluck who he needed." Vance shook his head. "He may even have more people on the inside."

"And at this point, it doesn't really matter what Kennedy tells Sutton," Vance continued. "The Pentagon is recommending to the President that the Summit be cancelled and rescheduled, due to 'impending terrorist activity'."

"Once Sutton hears that, Callen and Jess become worthless to him," Tony said, his apprehension growing.

"Not really," Gibbs said. "He'll use them for leverage."

"To get what?" Tony asked.

"Anything he wants," Gibbs said with a serious tone. "I'd think that the going rate for a Pentagon operative and a federal agent is pretty decent. Sutton probably has some friends at Gitmo he'd be willing to trade them back for."

Just then, an interruption came from the ops center on the west coast. It was Eric. "Guys – I just got a blip of something!"

Sam, Nate, Kensi and Hetty switched their focus from their various projects to the screen. Vance, Tony and Gibbs did the same.

"I was scanning frequencies, checking to see if any errant signals managed to get out and bounce off anything," Eric explained. "Since we have a satellite at our disposal and all," he continued.

"And …?" Sam and Gibbs said, impatiently and in unison.

"Wow …" Eric said under his breath. "Bi-coastal stereo."

"Mr. Beal." Hetty said, in a voice that left no room for misinterpretation.

"Yeah … anyway," Eric stammered. "This came up."

Just over four seconds of video appeared on the screen. The teams on both coasts watched as a clearly injured Callen took a hit on the side of the head.

"That's it," said Eric. "That's all."

"Just Callen?" Vance said, casting a sideways glance at Tony.

Eric looked back into the camera. "Sorry."

There was a moment of silence as each coast's team tried to picture what was happening in Angeles Forest.

Tony broke the silence. "We need to get to that compound before Sutton finds out that the Summit is cancelled," he said. "Disrupt the party before they find out that there's no intel to be told."

"We've already got OSP mapping out a rescue mission, backed up by Edwards," Vance reminded him.

Tony was thinking out loud. "They're too far behind, though," he said, almost under his breath. "They're still almost an hour away. We need something now." He looked up at Gibbs. "Something to draw Sutton's attention from the task at hand – a distraction."

Tony looked at Vance.

"I'm sorry, Agent DiNozzo," Vance said, a bit angrily. "But in case you didn't notice, I seem to be out of political capital."

"So get California to spend some," Tony spun around and glared at the screen.

"It's not that easy, Agent DiNozzo," Hetty said. "Favors take time. And we can't use up every favor we've got on one op."

"So we just let them wait?"

"Unless you know anyone who can pull together a high caliber surprise in less than thirty minutes." Vance looked at Tony expectantly.

Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Tony's head. It was so sudden and so obvious that he was certain that even Gibbs could see the glow. Tony turned to the Director.

"Actually, Director," Tony said with a grin, "I do. Got a secure line I can use?"

Vance and Gibbs looked at Tony suspiciously, but Vance punched a code on the communications console and handed over the headset. "Knock yourself out."

Tony hoped that the guys would be home.


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

Jonas Blane, Bob Brown and Mack Gerhart – three members of a covert military ops unit with almost unlimited resources and an uncanny ability to do pretty much anything – sat in the comm room at Los Alamitos Air Force Base in California, waiting for the video link. They were coming off a three-week-long mission involving a series of kidnappings in Mexico, and were just about to be cut loose to rejoin their families, when they had gotten the call. They had no idea who had summoned them, only that it had come from DC. Which always made things interesting.

"Seriously," Mack said to his team leader, "no clue at all?"

"Nothing," Jonas replied. "Just 'be there and be ready to deploy immediately'."

Bob sighed. "Kim was not pleased," he said. "We were supposed to take the kids to Disneyland."

The men received a signal from the comm room on the other side of the glass, and a test pattern popped up on the flatscreen. A second later, Tony DiNozzo's face was staring at them, larger than life.

"Hey guys," Tony said, serious and straight-faced. "Remember me?"

The three men looked at each other and then at the screen. Tony definitely wasn't who they'd expected to see.

"Hey, Tony," Bob said, tentatively. "To say 'this is a surprise' would be an understatement. What's up?"

"I need a favor," Tony said. "Or, rather, Jess Kennedy does."

"Jess?" Bob said, still confused. "What did she get herself into this time?"

Tony gave a quick brief of the Pentagon operation, who Sutton was, what he was planning, and what had happened up to this point. He forwarded on several files of intel, including the most recent satellite photos of Sutton's compound and the four-second video of Callen.

The resolution on the satellite photos was impressive. "You're telling me that this guy just happens to be holed up directly under a surveillance satellite?" Mack said. "I gotta say … THAT seems a little too good to be true."

"Yeah … no," Tony said dismissively, "we relocated a satellite to get a look." He started to continue.

Jonas interrupted. "You relocated a satellite?" He looked at the other two men, then back at Tony. "Mind sharing who you're working with?"

Tony hesitated, then looked off-screen. He'd apparently received the OK to pass along more information. "Ever hear of the NCIS Office of Special Projects?" Tony asked.

"No," Jonas said. "Should we have?"

"No," Tony replied with a slight grin. "But don't feel bad. They haven't heard of you either."

Tony continued explaining how OSP had gotten involved, their fears for the well-being of Callen and Jess, and a quick overview of the rescue operation now in progress. The entire briefing took less than ten minutes.

"Are we certain that Jess and Callen are still alive?" Jonas asked.

"No," Tony admitted. Then, inadvertently echoing words Jess had said when she was enlisting The Unit's help in finding Tony a couple of years earlier, "But we can't not go after them just because they might be dead already."

The guys exchanged looks.

"So," Mack said, "this would be one secret invisible covert group doing a favor for another secret invisible covert group?"

"Yup," Tony confirmed.

"Works for me," Bob said. The other men nodded in agreement. "What do you need?"

"We've got a team on the way, but they're still about …" he looked at his watch. "An hour out. We need a quick diversion … something to keep Sutton's guys off of Callen and Jess and busy until OSP can get there," Tony said. "It needs to be big, and it needs to happen almost immediately."

"Okay," Jonas said, always up for a challenge.

"Did you have anything in mind?" Bob asked.

Tony shook his head and shrugged. "Surprise me."

* * *

Sutton continued his line of questioning, as Jess watched the screen and saw Callen take a hit nearly every time she answered. Or, rather, didn't answer. She'd obediently logged into the computer and into her files at the Pentagon. True to his word, Sutton's computer hackers were right behind her, wiping everything clean. She had signed on in hopes that just a tiny ping would make it out to the IT desk at the Pentagon and that they'd think to check it. It was a long shot, but if her bosses were aware of her disappearance – if Tony had gotten the message and acted on it – then they might be okay.

"A lot of 'ifs'," she thought.

Once she'd signed on, though, Jess became less helpful. She didn't know how much the Pentagon knew of her disappearance or how much of the ops plan for the Summit was still in the system. And she certainly didn't want to give Sutton anything if she didn't have to. Even out-of-date security files would be of use to him – there weren't that many ways to run an operation like the Summit, and Sutton knew it. He also knew she was stalling.

Jess heard a frustrated sigh behind her. Sutton was clearly getting angry. "What the hell is taking so long?" he said. "You should have been in and out by now." As he looked at her, Jess knew exactly what people meant by 'if looks could kill'. Until this moment, she had never seen anyone who could outglare Gibbs.

"Sorry," Jess said, her voice taking on an edge. "I haven't eaten or slept in a couple of days." She did her best to return his stare with one of her own. "You're using my friend as a punching bag, threatening the security of a global leaders' summit I've been working on for a year, and hovering over me like a vulture. Forgive me if I'm having just a little trouble hitting the right keys in the right order."

The blow came out of nowhere and it knocked her out of her chair.

"I have no problem at all giving you the same treatment as your friend," Sutton said. He pointed to the screen where Callen was taking another hit. Jess flinched. Callen would tell her not to give anything up. Not to give Sutton what he wanted. Callen would tell her that he could handle it and not to worry. But she did worry. And she wondered how long he could hold out.

* * *

The Unit worked quickly. They were used to being creative on the fly and thinking outside the box. Of course, it helped that the resources they had at their disposal were pretty much unlimited. A few minutes of brainstorming and a quick asset check was all it took for them to formulate a plan and amass the necessary equipment. While Jonas and Mack did what they called the 'heavy lifting', Bob made a few quick phone calls, including one to a helicopter pilot named Billy Wilcox. They'd worked with him the last time they did a favor for Jess. He was, conveniently, currently stationed in Southern California working brush fire support – and he could fly anything.

"Orders are on the way to your commander," Bob assured him. "Chopper is waiting. Target is six minutes from you by air."

"So I'll be home in time for supper?" Billy said with a laugh.

"Yes, Dorothy," Bob chuckled. "Just don't miss."

Bob could hear Billy's attitude through the phone. "I never miss," the pilot said. "Be safe. Firefly out."

As the group suited up to deploy for what might be the shortest mission they'd ever undertaken, Jonas tossed out a quick reminder. "Standard code names and safety protocols, gentlemen." Then, "and don't be worried about getting the kids to Disneyland," he said to Bob with a smile. "We'll be done with this before anyone even knows we've started."

* * *

"This has ceased to be fun, Miss Kennedy," Sutton said, back in the forest. "You will give me what I need and you will give it to me now, or you and Agent Callen will never make it out of here."

Jess looked up at him angrily. "We're never making it out of here anyway," she said. "So I respectfully say, 'no … I will not provide you with the information you need'. I respectfully say, 'Go to hell'." With that, she took the laptop she'd been working on and threw it against the wall. It shattered.

Sutton pulled her up by her neck, shoving her back against the wall and lifting her a few inches off the floor.

They heard some shouting from outside the door, and one of the guards called out, "Sutton!"

"What the hell?," Sutton yelled as he released his hold on Jess. He looked at the monitor, then at Jess, who was gasping for breath on the floor. "Fine," he snapped. "Plan B." He picked up his iPhone and called to the other room. "Do it," he said. And then he walked out, slamming the door behind him.

Jess looked back at the screen, which had gone to snow when the door slammed. A few seconds later, the picture was restored, the image clearly still Callen. He had a puffy left eye and a swollen lip. His cheeks were ruddy and red, from having taken more than one or two punches to the face. He had a small cut above his right eye and dried blood on his chin. He was looking defiantly at his captor, who was now standing out of frame. The wounds were fresh. Callen looked tired, but focused. Steady.

A man in dark clothes with a mask on came forward and put a pillowcase over Callen's head. The camera shot cut to close-up again – just the upper chest and head. Out of frame, from the left – in front of where Callen sat – came a black-gloved hand with a gun. The gun was placed against the bound man's chest, which suddenly began to draw in sharp breaths. In fear, perhaps, or as a calming exercise. One shot was fired. The noise and force of the close impact made the body jerk upward, the chair and body falling sideways, out of frame.

The masked man behind the chair ducked out of view for a few seconds as he righted the chair. Dark red blood covered the front of Callen's bright blue shirt. The pillowcase was pulled off and Callen's head was there, lolling forward, motionless. Lifeless. The masked man lifted up the face and pointed it towards the camera.

The screen went dark.


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

Jess screamed when she saw the video of Callen being shot. She stood and stared at the black screen, trying to process what she'd seen. She ran to the door, frantically trying to pull it open, but it was locked and solid. She had no idea what to do … no idea what was happening. She stood in the storeroom and slowly backed herself into a corner and slid down to the floor. The tears that came were almost involuntary. Callen was dead, and by not helping Sutton, she had killed him.

* * *

Outside Sutton's compound there was chaos. While Sutton had been inside with Jess, and his deputies dealing with Callen, all hell had broken loose in the rest of the camp. A lone Bell 205 helitanker from the Southern California brush fire squad – undetected and unseen until way too late – had flown over the camp, dumping 1500 gallons of lake water onto the lower compound. Tents, food stores, weapons, ammunition, vehicles and other supplies had been destroyed or washed away. Water was rushing everywhere, turning the surrounding area into a muddy, rock-strewn mess. The main building – where Jess and Callen were – was high enough to miss the damage, but the rest of the area was in ruins.

The three men of the Unit had supplied the necessary cover for the water drop, providing bursts of gunfire to distract Sutton's troops. The men in the compound were scrambling for cover when the water dropped from the sky.

Sam and Kensi, along with a small crew of special ops forces, were fifteen minutes out from their target when they saw and heard the helitanker fly over and dump its load. Hetty had warned them to "take the high road" and stay above the strike zone.

"Liberty Bell is 10-18. Firefly clear," Sam heard on his comm line, indicating that the helicopter pass was complete.

"We are 10-17 unless further assistance is needed," came a call from 'Mr. White' to Sam.

"Copy that," Sam replied. "Thanks for the help – enjoy Disneyland."

Moments later, Sam and his team rushed forward and invaded the camp area, easily surprising and overtaking the men who had stayed to try and save the stores and equipment. Over half of Sutton's troops had run for the hills – literally – when the gunfire started and the water dropped. A member of the special ops team called his commander at the perimeter and advised them to be on the lookout for "a couple of dozen soggy jackrabbits trying to make an escape." The runners were caught, cuffed and transported within minutes.

Sutton made it to the entrance of the building in time to see the chopper fly away, leaving water and confusion in its wake. He'd expected someone to come after Callen and Kennedy, but they were supposed to be in Pearblossom. Matty Harper and Laura March had provided him with a full overview of what OSP had planned. Alex had been helpful as well, passing along intel from prison. None of them had mentioned a helicopter water drop as part of the gameplan. In fact, as far as any of them knew, no one even knew where the compound was. Clearly he'd made a strategic error somewhere. As he watched the bedlam around him, he knew he'd lost.

"Five years!" he screamed, at no one in particular. "Five years of work and it gets washed away by the freakin' federal government!"

He stormed back inside, running for his office. He frantically dug around in the mess for his handgun, then grabbed a semi-automatic rifle from the gun cabinet behind him.

"I'll put bullets in them myself," he growled as he moved into the hallway. He turned down the hall to the rooms Callen and Jess were being held in. He made it to the door of the room he'd just left – the one Jess was in. His hand was on the doorknob when two Special Forces men came around the corner. Sutton fired a few rounds and ducked down the opposite hallway. Special Forces was headed his way from that end too. His only available option was the front hallway and the main entrance.

Letting out a blood-curdling yell, Sutton came running from the building, firing wildly. Sam stood up from his cover location and took two shots. Both hit their mark, and Sutton fell to the ground. Upon seeing their leader killed, the rest of the men still in the compound quickly realized how futile it would be to continue to resist. Almost as one, they moved forward to surrender.

* * *

Jess sat in the storeroom, above the chaos of the water and the rescue mission. She heard the chopper, followed by yelling, gunshots, screams and general pandemonium. She heard Sutton's anger and then the firefight outside the door. But she felt strangely disconnected from the situation.

Callen was dead, Sutton was gone, and nothing else mattered. She heard people yelling. More gunfire. She didn't have the energy to try to find out what was going on. So she sat and waited. Waited for someone to find her or to kill her. Whatever.

* * *

Tony, Gibbs and Vance sat in MTAC, watching as OSP and their military back-up inched closer and closer to Sutton's compound.

Vance was on real-time hook-up with the Pentagon coordinator, giving him instant play-by-play of what was going down. His second comm line was Hetty, who was filling him in based on radio calls from Sam. Vance would report the second Special Agent Callen or Operations Specialist Kennedy showed up in any scan. Dead or alive.

The three sat, watching an all too real war movie, as the Bell 205 blipped across the screen and dropped its load. Tony smiled at the diversion, making a mental note to thank the boys of The Unit for an inspired tactical choice.

The scrambling from the men at the compound looked like bugs rushing out of a flooded anthill. Figures scattered into the surrounding woods as the three listened to calls going out to the perimeter squad. Moments later, a confirmation came via radio that Sutton had been killed. Shortly after, another radio message confirmed that Laura March and Matty Harper had been apprehended – they'd surrendered less than a click from the compound border, covered in mud and looking like wet rats.

"An apt dénouement," Hetty noted over the comm line.

As Sam and his squad began their invasion, another part of the screen burst into motion as multiple units moved simultaneously to overtake their targets. It was, as Sam had predicted, like gathering up fish in a net. A small but strong wave of military force swept over the map on the screen, swiftly capturing, securing, and clearing areas. It frustrated the audiences on both coasts that they could not tell from the available imaging which of the heat signatures they were watching were Callen and Jess. Or even whether Callen and Jess still HAD heat signatures. It was all over in less than twenty minutes once they'd gotten the "go."

Both teams anxiously awaited the sitrep.

* * *

The work outside done, Sam and Kensi joined the troops who were already in the main compound building.

"G!" Sam yelled, again and again, as they made their way through the now empty rooms.

At the end of one long hall was a closed door, locked from the inside. Sam put all his force against it and broke it down. Inside was an open window through which a member of Sutton's group had obviously fled, based on the patch of camo jacket that had ripped off on the latch. One of the outside teams would get him.

Sam and Kensi were far more concerned about the body lying on the floor. Still tied to a chair was Callen, his bright blue shirt covered in blood. Sam dropped his firearm and rushed to his partner. He quickly released Callen from the chair and laid him out flat, then checked for a pulse.

Sam looked up at Kensi. "Find Kennedy," he said. She looked down at Callen, clearly not wanting to leave.

"Go!" Sam said, his look commanding and intense.

Kensi nodded and headed back out into the hallway.

"Come on, G," Sam said under his breath. "Not again. We are not doing this again."


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

Kensi found Jess in a mostly empty room in the back of the building. Jess sat in the far corner of the room, looking at Kensi impassively as she burst in. Kensi did a quick scope of the room, finishing just as Sam entered the room. "Clear," she said, as he looked down at Jess, who hadn't moved from her spot on the floor.

"Callen?" Kensi said quietly to Sam as he started towards Jess. Sam nodded as he moved towards the corner.

"Jess?" he said, tentatively.

She didn't respond.

"Jess?" he asked again. "You okay?"

"He's dead, Sam," she said in a flat voice.

"Who's dead?"

"Callen." She looked at them both and then back to the floor. "They killed him."

Sam opened his mouth to speak, but at that moment Callen appeared at the door, gun in hand. He was a bit unsteady, visibly injured and a little out of breath, but he was very much alive.

"Jess!" he said, with relief evident in his voice.

Sam spun around and looked at his partner. "When I said 'wait here', that meant for you to wait," he said, shaking his head. "You need a medic."

Callen shot a look at Sam and started moving towards Jess. He got about halfway across the room before Kensi stopped him with a hand on his chest and a low, whispered, "slow down".

Jess had jumped up and was standing against the wall looking like a deer caught in the headlights. Her mind was working hard to process what was happening in front of her. It was Callen. Standing there … alive. He'd been beaten up, and there was blood on his shirt – a LOT of blood on his shirt – but he was clearly very much alive. She took a tentative step towards him.

"I saw you die," she said, confusion clear in her voice. She looked at Sam, as if he'd be able to explain. "They showed me a live feed from another room. He was sitting in a chair. They did a close-up. It was you." She looked at Callen. She looked over to Kensi. "They put a sack over his head and pointed a gun at his chest." She glanced quickly back to Callen. "And then someone held a gun to your chest and shot you." Back to Sam. "Shot him. Callen. Point blank. I watched it happen. He died." She looked again at Callen. "You DIED."

She frowned a bit, trying to make sense of it all. "Then they showed you again, with blood …" She looked again at his bloody shirt. "And they took the bag off your head and you were dead. You looked dead." She was confused and exhausted and in need of an explanation.

Callen slowly walked over to where Jess was standing. He put his hands on her shoulders, gripping firmly when she instinctively flinched from his grasp. "They staged it," he said. "Not the beating up part – that was real," he said, with a painful laugh. "But the shooting part – a guy came up behind me and threw a sack over my head." She was staring at him like he was a ghost.

He continued. "They threw a sack over my head – they did it a couple of times. They were filming something. Then they took me out of the room. That's the last thing I remember. Drugs or a blow to the head … I'm not sure. I don't know for how long. When I came to, Sam was there and my shirt was covered in dried blood." He locked eyes with Jess, as if to push the point home. "But it was fake, Jess. It wasn't a live feed. I'm here. I'm alive."

Jess pulled away from Callen and looked at the floor. You could almost see her brain trying to work through it all. Callen and Sam each took a step back. Callen looked at Kensi and then at the door; Kensi moved to guard it – to keep anyone else from walking in, but also to keep Jess from bolting.

"They showed me you, sitting in that room, covered in blood," Jess was saying, talking mostly to herself. She looked up at the three, standing there. "How much time went by? How long? I can't …" She wasn't really expecting an answer.

She continued talking to herself as Callen, Sam and Kensi exchanged looks. They really needed Nate right now.

"And they told me you were going to die," Jess was saying, her voice getting more agitated. "That you were dead. And then they killed someone and made me believe that it was you."

She spun around and looked at him. "Wait a minute," she challenged. "Why _didn't_ they kill you?" She was irritated and irrational and in need of answers. "I didn't give them anything. I didn't do anything they wanted me to do. Why are you still alive?"

"Don't know," Callen said, in an exasperated tone. His fatigue was getting to him and he was on edge too. For god's sake, he was alive. Couldn't she just be glad about that? "Maybe to trade for someone else. Maybe to use later. Maybe to make a point about who was in charge." His tone turned frustrated and angry. "But I wasn't conscious, so I. Don't. Know."

Sam and Kensi stood by helplessly, not knowing how to defuse the situation.

Jess was pacing now, stealing glances at the team. She was looking for an outlet for her pent up fear and anger and emotion when she suddenly saw a pair of pallets on their sides, leaning against a wall.

"Don't …" Sam, Callen and Kensi all yelled in unison. But it was too late. Jess smashed her fist through a slat of the top pallet, doing far more damage than anyone would have expected.

"Damn," said Sam, with obvious appreciation. The whole room seemed to deflate back to normal, everyone releasing the breaths they hadn't realized they were holding.

"She gets pissy when she misses lunch," Callen finally said with a tired half-smile.

Jess turned back to them, looking down at her hand. She glanced up. "Ow," she said, the rage dissipated and only exhaustion left.

Callen moved forward and took her by the shoulders again. "You okay?" he said quietly.

"My hand hurts," she replied. He chuckled. Then, "Yeah … You?" She looked at his face. "Sam said you need a medic."

"Sam worries," Callen said, with a sideways glance to his partner. "I'm good." She took a step back and looked down at his shirt. "Not my blood", he repeated.

Jess wiped the tears from her eyes and looked up at the ceiling. She took a couple of deep breaths. Callen leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes for a few seconds and taking a couple of deep breaths of his own.

"You SURE you guys are okay?" Kensi said from her place by the door.

Sam was about to say something when he heard, loudly, in his earwig, "Um hello? HELLO? Sam … Kensi … we need some information here!" Eric was on the other end, clearly worried. "Did you find them? Are they alright? Is Callen okay? Anything? We've got no eyes here."

"I'll second that request, Agent Hanna," came Director Vance's voice over the comm line.

Sam touched his earwig to transmit.

"Callen and Kennedy are fine," Sam said, knowing that would be the first piece of info everyone would want. "They're a little beat up, but they're okay."

Sighs of relief went through both OSP and MTAC.

Sam continued. "The compound is secure. We'll need an Evidence Retrieval Unit and an Ordinance Unit. There's a small stockpile of explosives that someone will have to deal with."

"Do we have cameras yet, Mr. Beal?" Hetty asked, back in the ops center.

"Coming on line now," Eric said.

The compound appeared on the big screen in both viewing rooms – it was a wide shot of the exterior of Sutton's compound, from a camera placed by the strike force for documentation of the arrests. About a dozen people were being processed – arrested, tagged and put on transports – as another group of military shuttled boxes, gun cases, and other equipment and evidence from the compound to waiting trucks. Sutton's body was covered and being attended to by one of the medical units. The water from the helitanker was still swirling debris throughout the lower level of the rocky area.

"The water drop was a nice touch," Gibbs said to Tony, with an appreciative nod.

"You should have seen it from down here," Sam added with a chuckle.

A moment later, four people emerged from the main building. Callen and Jess came out first, with Sam and Kensi bringing up the rear. It was hard to tell what kind of condition Callen and Jess were in, other than that they were clearly able to walk out under their own power. They both looked exhausted.

"Can you zoom in at all, Eric?" Nate asked.

"A little," Eric said. "I can't do much. It's not a sophisticated system … just basic documentation."

A slightly closer shot showed Callen and Jess being met by medical personnel as they approached the waiting vans and trucks.

"Oh good lord," Hetty exclaimed, as the camera picked up a full front shot of Callen. Even in the imperfect resolution, it was clear that there was a great deal of blood on the front of his shirt. They saw Callen turn and say something to Sam.

"Hetty," Sam's voice came over the comm line, "G says to tell you it's not his blood."

"Thank God," Hetty said as she sat down with a sigh of relief.

They saw Callen turn to Sam again. They heard Sam chuckle as he relayed, "And he apologizes, but he doesn't think the shirt can be saved."

Back in MTAC, Tony scrutinized the feed they were getting, watching every move Jess made as she emerged from the building. She seemed to be favoring her right hand. She had bruises on her face. Her clothes were a mess. But she looked more tired than anything. She and Agent Callen were walking slowly – as if they were at the end of a very long journey. He saw her turn to Agent Blye and say something.

Kensi touched her earwig to transmit and said, "Eric … Jess needs to get a message through to Agent DiNozzo. Does he have ears?"

"He does," Tony said, transmitting from MTAC through OSP.

They watched Kensi turn back to Jess and nod. Jess said a few words, after which Kensi gave a confused look to Callen. Callen laughed and nodded, and Kensi transmitted the message.

"Um … Agent DiNozzo … Jess says 'you're still winning'. I'm trusting you know what that means."

"I do, Agent Blye, thank you," Tony said with a smile. Then, he turned to the communications tech at MTAC. "I need to get a message out on a secure line," he said. "Whiskey Charlie Romeo 1186. Tell them DeNiro reports that Saint Joan is home."


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Callen and Jess dropped gratefully onto the gurneys that were set up in the medical transport. Having something soft to sit on after hours and hours on concrete and hard chairs was appreciated.

Matty Harper and Laura March were standing – wet, muddy and handcuffed – near one of the personnel transports the Special Ops unit had provided to take Sutton's men to be processed. Both Callen and Jess tried hard to come up with the perfect sarcastic comment to toss at the two who had caused them so much trouble, but they were just too tired. Nothing came to mind. Jess noted the moment and knew Tony wouldn't believe that she was, for once, at a loss for words.

She did, however, turn to Callen, lying with his eyes closed on the other side of the military ambulance. "I can't believe we did all of that work – the memorization, backstopping, meetings, drills – and we didn't use any of it. We never had the chance to really BE Matty and Lissa Harper." She yawned. "I feel like I just spent three days getting ready for the prom only to be stood up."

Callen turned his head and opened one eye, a grin forming on his face.

"Not that that's ever happened," Jess added, quickly.

Callen raised his eyebrows, his grin getting wider.

"What?" she said, blushing just enough for Callen to notice. And for some reason they both found the thought incredibly, unbelievably, hilariously funny. Either that or they were just overtired and a bit punchy. But Jess started to laugh, Callen joining her seconds later. Before long they were laughing so hard they could barely breathe. It lasted for several minutes.

Sam and Kensi looked over, then at each other. They smiled, shook their heads and finished signing off the last of the paperwork. By the time they returned to the ambulance, Callen and Jess were catching their breath and getting back to normal.

"Feel better?" Sam asked, with a chuckle.

"You have no idea," Jess replied, wiping her eyes.

Callen propped himself up on his elbows and looked at his two team members. Nodding towards the compound, still muddy from the water drop, he asked, "So … the water. When did that happen?" Kensi started to speak, but he interrupted her. "Or, maybe the better question is HOW did that happen?"

Kensi turned to Sam. "You tell it so much better."

Sam rolled his eyes and smiled. "A little diversionary tactic phoned in from DC."

Jess and Callen looked at him in confusion.

Sam clarified. "I call them The Rainbow Connection," he said. "Mr. White, Mr. Black and Mr. Blue. Some 'elite unit' from some invisible someplace." He said this with a tinge of sarcasm, as only a SEAL could. "Pilot named Firefly," he continued. "They did a little surprise thing before we got there. Confused the hell out of them. Gathering them all up was like fishing with a net."

Jess' mind started racing, wondering how Bob, Billy and The Unit had gotten involved in this whole mess. She tried to form a more complete question, but the only word that came out was a confused, "How?"

"Apparently," Kensi said, with a smile of her own, "your friend Tony made a call."

* * *

Callen and Jess managed to grab a few hours of sleep that night, but their R&R was short-lived. While Jess headed to the ops center to video-chat with her superiors and begin the necessary paperwork to close out the mission, Callen was pulled into Nate's office. Jess would be debriefed in DC, but Hetty had insisted that Callen have his mandatory time with the staff psychologist immediately. For once, Callen didn't mind. There were so many parts of the operation that he didn't know.

Callen's debriefing included a full overview of what had happened from the moment Jess' message went to DiNozzo up through Sam and Kensi finding him lying unconscious in the interrogation room. He learned how the team had discovered the truth about Harper and March, and he got a play by play description of the exchanges between OSP and NCIS in Norfolk. He learned what Jess had seen and heard from her room in the bunker, and watched the video they'd played for her in order to extract information. He flinched when he saw the blue-shirted man shot point blank.

"You okay?" Nate asked, as he turned off the video.

"Yeah," Callen said, a bit shaken. "I can't imagine what was going through her head while she watched that. I'm sitting all cozy in my chair getting beat up on, and then I'm dragged out and unconscious for the rest of it. I had no idea all of that was happening."

He looked at Nate, wide-eyed. "I didn't see them bring another guy in, didn't know they'd put him in my shirt, didn't know they'd shot him. But if I had seen that tape, I'd have thought I was dead too."

Callen looked back at the monitor and considered all that had happened. Then he turned back to Nate. "When I came to," he continued, "all I saw was Sam and my shirt covered in blood. Scared the hell out of me."

Nate nodded in understanding.

"Sam, I mean," Callen clarified, with a slightly crooked grin. "The blood was no big deal, but man … you ever wake up to Sam Hanna's face six inches from yours?"

"Um … no," Nate said, suddenly feeling incredibly uncomfortable. "Um … no."

"It's a sight," Callen said, standing up and stretching. "Don't ever do it."

"Words to live by," Nate said, as Callen signed the debrief form.

It was nearly 8pm by the time Callen walked out of Nate's office. He wandered back to the more lounge-y area of the office to see if anyone was still around. Sam's bag was there, but not Sam. There was no evidence of any of the rest of his team, all of whom had apparently gone home for the evening. Callen chuckled to see Jess stretched out on the couch – his couch – asleep. He sighed and dropped into the leather chair, putting his feet up on the table. The noise and movement woke Jess up. She looked over at him and smiled.

"I think I'm in your spot," she said. "Sam said something about 'G's couch' and not to get too comfortable." She started to get up.

"Stay there," G said, waving her back down to her stretched out lounging position. "I hereby waive rights to the couch for the next few hours." He yawned and added, "although I am not planning on being here that long."

The two sat in silence, eyes closed, enjoying the quiet.

"When do you go back?" Callen asked, eyes still closed.

"First thing tomorrow," Jess said. "Scheduled to touch down in DC around dinner time."

Callen opened his eyes and looked at her. "It won't be the same here without you," he said with a genuine smile.

"I think Sam's kind of counting on that," she said.

"Mr. Callen …," Hetty interrupted as she walked into the lounge area, "I know you likely had other plans for recuperation from your latest ordeal, but if you don't mind … I, Director Vance and Agent DiNozzo would very much appreciate it if you could escort Miss Kennedy back to the east coast." She looked somewhat apologetically at Callen. "I believe it would ease some minds if you could make the trip."

"I don't need to be babysat," Jess said. "I'm sure I am quite capable of getting from Point A to Point B without incident." She looked at Callen. "You don't have to come. You should probably be in a hospital anyway."

"Mr. Callen is no more beat up now than he has been for 83.4% of his past missions," Hetty said, not noticing Callen's amused smile at her knowing the exact percentage. "He is fully capable of traveling, and might actually stand a better chance of recovery if he were to be away from the office for a few days."

"Wouldn't miss it," Callen said with a yawn. "I owe Gibbs a visit anyway, and I wouldn't mind meeting the remarkable Agent DiNozzo in person." He looked at Jess. "I need to thank him for saving our lives."

* * *

Jess made one final visit to the OSP headquarters the next morning, turning in her keys, credentials and other files prior to returning home. Sam almost seemed genuinely sorry to see her go.

"I can't believe it's only been a week," Jess said, as Sam walked up to say good-bye.

"Seems longer," Sam began, not realizing how it sounded.

Jess laughed out loud.

"No …" Sam said, flustered. "I didn't mean it that way. I meant that it was such an intense mission and that we were all on 24/7 and that …"

The rest of the team stood there, looking at him with impish delight at his back-pedaling.

"What Mr. Hanna is trying to say, Miss Kennedy," Hetty began, coming to the rescue, "is that we were pleased that we could assist and that we are extremely happy that the mission ended successfully."

"Yeah," Sam said, ignoring everyone's smirks.

"Even if the mission we ended with wasn't the one we started with," Nate added.

"Yes, well ..." Hetty said, looking at Jess and Callen, "You two best be on your way. You have a plane to catch, and Mr. Hanna has a mound of paperwork to complete."

Sam opened his mouth to protest, but was cut off by Hetty.

"There's more to being a team leader than just the pay bump, Mr. Hanna," she said as she turned to lead him off to his desk.

"Wait ... pay bump?" Callen called behind her.

"For some, Mr. Callen," Hetty replied. "For some."

* * *

At LAX, Jess and Callen headed through expedited security to their flight to DC. As they sat at the gate waiting to board, an airline representative approached them, looking very serious and very official.

"Really?" Jess said under her breath, almost whining. "What now?" Callen felt the same way.

"We've been asked to reassign your seats," the airline rep said, in a way that made it sound as though the change had been more an order than a request. "You can board at any time." She handed them new boarding passes and they moved to the jetway.

Callen was shocked to see the new assignments – First Class. It had to have been Hetty. No one else … then he thought, "Maybe Eric?" But he dismissed that. Not even Eric would hack into a domestic flight manifest to up their status. Not with airline security what it was and knowing that they wouldn't want any problems getting to DC. No … it was Hetty. Being uncharacteristically free with travel funds.

As they took their seats and stretched out in the First Class cabin, Callen smiled and reminded himself to write Hetty a thank you note. ("On real stationery, with a fountain pen, Mr. Callen, or it really doesn't count," he could hear her saying.)


	21. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Tony met them at the gate at Reagan National. Callen supposed that was a perk of being a federal agent in a federal town – you could meet people at the gate. They'd stopped being able to do that in California on September 11, and they still couldn't do it at LAX. You could arrange to meet stars and celebs at the gate, to ward off paparazzi or stalkers, but common people like returning special agents or Pentagon employees? Don't even ask. LAX won't let you.

Tony's first impression was that the two of them still looked tired, but otherwise basically okay. It was as if they'd had a few very long days and mostly sleepless nights. Their faces looked drawn, but their body language was pretty relaxed. Not what he'd expected, based on what he'd heard about the past few days. It seemed to be "normal tired", not "mission that went bad" tired. Not like how Ziva looked when she came back. He'd been afraid of that.

"Tony DiNozzo," he said, by way of introduction.

"G. Callen," Callen replied, shaking hands. "It's nice to put a face with a name."

"Likewise."

"Although," Callen continued, "I have to say that based on what I've heard about you, I half expected you to come floating in on a golden chariot, pulled by flying horses."

"Not on Wednesdays," Tony said, apologetically. He cocked his head to the side and eyed Callen. "I thought you'd be bigger."

"Roadhouse," Jess said, automatically, much to Tony's amusement.

"I'm actually the pretty one," Callen said. "Sam Hanna – my partner – he's the brawn."

Tony chuckled. "Huh – I was about to say the same thing about me and Ziva."

Tony then turned to Jess and hugged her tightly for just a second.

"Hi," he said, with a smile that clearly held more meaning.

"Hi," she replied, returning the smile.

With that, he ushered them into the airport. Callen wasn't sure what he was expecting from Tony and Jess … he expected Tony to totally ignore him and check Jess out to make sure she was okay. He expected questions and concern. He expected emotion … tears, maybe. He expected more than "Hi". But no. Just a simple acknowledgement that one member of the duo had been in danger, had gotten home safely, and that more information would be provided later. It was, he thought, exactly how he and Sam would have handled it. Except for the hug.

Sam also would not have taken his duffel, as Tony did Jess'. He took her bag, almost against her will. She seemed a little at a loss for what to do without something to carry; without something to be responsible for.

The three of them walked through the busy airport, with Tony and Callen taking the outside positions and Jess somewhat insulated between them. The men both instinctively shortened their pace to match Jess' stride, so that she didn't have to walk any faster to keep up. Jess, for her part, extended her stride a bit so that the guys didn't have to adapt too much. It was all oddly automatic, as if they'd all known each other for years.

They walked silently through the ambient noise and bustle of the terminal. Tony carried Jess' duffel on his right shoulder, his free hand occasionally brushing hers – not in a hand-holding kind of way, Callen noted. It seemed to be more of a security thing. As if he were tacitly reminding her that he was right there … not to worry. She'd grabbed Tony's hand once – as they hit the escalators to the restricted area downstairs. She'd stumbled a bit at a sudden turn and she'd reached out to steady herself, reaching for his hand instead of the railing. There was an ease between the two of them that impressed Callen. A level of trust that you just counted on. It explained how Jess could be so certain they'd be fine once she'd been able to get a message out. How she knew that he'd take care of it.

It occurred to Callen that Nate would have enjoyed watching this. He'd have hours of thought material watching these two interact. Hell, he could write an entire book about it.

By the time they'd gotten to the sub-basement, it was silent. Compared to the noise level upstairs, it was a little eerie. They walked quickly through a concrete hallway to a tarmac exit. Tony had a car waiting. An agent there took the duffels that Callen and Tony were carrying and tossed them in the trunk. Tony held the door for Jess and Callen, and they climbed in the back seat. Tony took shotgun and nodded to the driver.

"Thanks for the escort," Callen said, once they were underway.

"Yeah … we figured this would be easier," Tony said. He switched his gaze to Jess and continued. "Debriefing – case, psych and medical – can happen tonight or tomorrow, but they're mandatory." He looked again at Callen. "I know you already debriefed in LA," he said, "but Director Vance wants the first-person version."

Callen nodded.

"Gibbs talked to your boss at the Pentagon," Tony said, shifting his gaze back to Jess. "You're off for the rest of the week. More if you need it." Tony shot a slight grin at Callen. "You're here until Sunday if you want to be – you can head out any time after talking to Vance."

"If we get to choose," Jess interrupted, as she stretched her arms in front of her, "then I choose tomorrow. For debriefings. I could use a long hot bath and a very comfortable bed, in specifically that order."

"We've got you two in a safehouse in Georgetown for tonight," Tony said. "Once you're debriefed, Callen will be bunking at Gibbs'."

Callen nodded.

"And you," Tony said to Jess, in a distinctly lighter and "older brotherly" type tone, "can go home in a few days. But you're spending the weekend with me."

"Yes, sir," Jess replied with a slight smile and a mock salute. Then she closed her eyes and sighed, letting her head rest on the back of the seat. Callen did the same.

Tony turned back to the front for the rest of the trip to the safehouse.

* * *

Once they arrived in Georgetown, Callen took a quick shower while Tony called Gibbs with a sitrep and gave instructions to the security detail that would be covering the place for the night. Tony had invited Callen to dinner. Partially, Jess suspected, to give her some "alone time" and partially because Tony had been curious about the other agent for months. They were both a little surprised when Callen agreed. He'd seemed a little keyed up – not ready to call it a night, but not ready for a night on the town either. Tony promised the best steakhouse in DC and Callen took him up on it.

"Your expense account?" Callen had asked, with a sly grin.

"Actually, I think it's on the Pentagon," Tony said, glancing at Jess. "Their collar, their tab."

"Perfect."

Callen came out of his room looking awake and relaxed. So much so that Tony was almost jealous at how quickly the other man could go from "mission mode" to "normal mode". If, indeed, this was "normal" for Callen. Tony wasn't sure.

The sudden yawn seemed out of place, somehow, based on the ease of Callen's demeanor.

"You sure you're up for this?" Tony asked.

Callen nodded. "I'm good."

They both looked at Jess, who was eying them with a sparkle in her eye that neither man had seen recently.

"Why do I get the feeling that I'm going to regret this?" she said.

The two men looked at her, then each other, then back at her.

She laughed and shook her head. "Oh … the innocence," she said with a grin. She turned into her assigned room, to draw a bath and relax. "Bring me back a steak sandwich," were her parting words as she waved good-bye and closed the door.

The two stood there for a second, not quite realizing they'd been dismissed. Callen broke the silence.

"Lead on, McDuff," he said. And the two agents went downstairs to meet the waiting car.


	22. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Jess spent about 40 minutes in the bathtub, the deep soak helping relax both her muscles and her mind. Her hand was still sore from hitting the pallets; her neck and shoulders from the rough treatment by Sutton. And she'd had a couple of uncomfortable dreams over the past few nights, so sinking into a warm bath knowing that there were guards outside the door and that everyone she cared about was safe did wonders for her psyche.

She threw on some sweats and looked around the room, wondering what to do next. She was too tired to sleep, but didn't really want to channel-surf or read. She was just about to ask the guard – Tony had called him a "concierge with a gun" – if there was a gym she could use to burn off a little stress when the phone rang.

The ring actually made her jump. She hadn't known there was a phone in the room, actually, and then she couldn't imagine who would have the number. Then she realized that there were probably a whole team of people who knew how to reach her here: Tony, Callen, Gibbs, Vance, Hetty, and on and on. She picked up the receiver on the third ring.

"Hello?" she said, tentatively.

"You okay?" came the response on the other end. "Jess … it's Bob."

"Bob?"

"Bob Brown," he said. "You know … friend from way back. Ass-saver extraordinaire? Invisible military guy?" She could hear him smiling over the phone.

"Oh," Jess said, a sarcastic lilt to her tone, "THAT Bob. Yes … vaguely. I didn't recognize you without a beer."

"How are you, Jess?" he asked again, his humorous tone replaced by lightly veiled concern.

"I'm good," she replied. "Tired." Then a thought struck her, "Wait a second … how did you get this number?"

"You're kidding, right?" he said with a chuckle. "Do you know who I work for?"

"Right."

"So, you're okay?" Bob continued. "We were back at ops by the time they brought you and Callen out."

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jess repeated with a sigh. "Callen had it worse, really. He was the human punching bag. I just had to deal with the psyche-out stuff." She paused, and then changed the subject. "Did you guys ever hear how it all played out?" she asked. "I know a lot of the 'when' and some of the 'what', but I haven't been told a lot of the 'how' or the 'why' yet."

"Actually … yeah," Bob said. "Tony was nice enough to give us a full debrief once the op was over. I'm not sure he was supposed to, but he decided it was okay, since we technically don't exist."

Jess laughed.

Bob continued. "Apparently the plan was to get the Summit intel from you – or whichever Pentagon OpsSpec was sent – just to basically prove that they could. Sutton had three guys on the inside …"

"Chandler," Jess interrupted.

"Chandler," Bob confirmed, "along with a fairly high-ranking general and the protocol liaison. Sutton had their names on speed dial."

"Wait," Jess said. "So Sutton – this guy who was paranoid about never being seen or met, puts his governmental contacts on his phone for everyone to see?"

"I guess he figured that if someone had his phone, it meant he was either captured or dead…"

"And he wasn't going down alone," Jess completed the thought. "But why the whole charade of killing Callen?" Jess wondered.

"According to Laura March – who I understand is YOUR new BFF," Bob said with a chuckle.

"Yeah," Jess said, dryly. "Give me another shot at her … please?"

Bob laughed, and continued. "According to Laura March, once Sutton knew he was getting an NCIS agent in the bargain, his plan was to 'kill him off' – make everyone think he was dead – and then offer him up later as a trade for guys Sutton had in Gitmo and Leavenworth. Could have held onto him for months until the price was right."

Jess shuddered at the thought of Callen being used as a pawn in Sutton's strange terrorist game.

"The longer he was 'missing, believed dead'," Bob explained, "the more they could try to get out of him and the more he'd be worth when NCIS discovered he was still alive."

"So what was supposed to happen to me?" Jess asked, not entirely certain she wanted the answer.

"March said that there were two options. Sutton's first instinct was to just let you go, so that you would, as March said, 'go back to the Pentagon with your tail between her legs and tell the tale of Sutton's masterful capture and manipulation of the most powerful government in the world'."

"Jeez … ego, much?" Jess said with obvious distaste.

"Seriously," Bob agreed.

"And the second option?" Jess asked.

Bob paused, choosing his words carefully. "Sutton's Plan B was to ship you back to the Pentagon as a trophy."

"Dead," Jess said, filling in the blank.

"Yes."

Jess blew out a breath. "Sutton's final words to me just before he walked out of the storeroom and I saw Callen being shot were, 'Fine. Plan B'." She was silent for a minute. Then, "Thanks for being the cavalry."

"No problem," Bob said, sincerely. "Oh … and Billy says hi."

"How is my favorite military pilot these days?" Jess said with a grin.

"Says you now owe him a big honkin' favor – not exactly in those words – and that Super Bowl tickets would be appropriate."

"Yeah, yeah …" Jess said, making note of the request. Then, "Wait … you said that Sutton's plan was to grab the intel just to prove that he could. That was really the whole thing?"

"Well … the intent was to disrupt the planning, and thereby the Summit," Bob said. "Proving they could get to the plans would prove that they could get to the Summit. The intent was to put doubt, suspicion and, ideally, fear into the minds of the world leaders. Make them think that the US couldn't keep them safe."

"So it's cancelled, then?" Jess said, with disappointment.

"No," Bob replied. "The point was made that clearly the US _could_ keep the Summit safe, since the plan was blown and the intel never released."

"So after all that, it's just business as usual?"

"It is."

Jess couldn't help but laugh. "Five years of work on Sutton's part and nothing to show for it except for some soggy inventory and a disbanded organization."

"Yeah," Bob agreed. "Alex Harper was pretty darned upset too. He'd been Sutton's #2 from prison all this time. Was promised all sorts of things for taking one for the team. Now he's just stuck finishing out his sentence."

"At least he has his brother to keep him company," Jess said. Then, "What about Korianski?" She'd forgotten about him.

Bob paused again.

"Bob?"

"He was the guy who took the bullet," Bob said. When Jess didn't respond, he added, "on the tape … when you thought …"

"… it was Callen," Jess completed the thought. "But why?"

"He'd been disloyal somewhere along the line. Sutton let him back in the fold, but told him that at some point he'd have to prove his loyalty. This was how."

"Sutton was a crazy man," Jess said, shaking her head. The two friends paused, the conversation pretty much complete.

"As am I," Bob finally said, "for keeping you up way past your bedtime."

Jess laughed.

"You have got to be exhausted," he said.

"Yeah," Jess agreed, "but in that 'too tired to sleep' way."

"I know what you mean," Bob sympathized. "But give it a shot anyway. You've probably got a couple of days of debriefs in front of you. You need your strength."

Jess was just about to thank him and say good-bye when Bob spoke again.

"You have someone to talk to there, right?" he said, trying to hide some of the concern in his voice. "About all of this. They've got a psychologist or something?"

"They do," Jess assured him.

"Don't blow that off," Bob ordered.

"I won't," Jess replied. "I couldn't if I wanted to. It's apparently mandatory for all undercover missions."

"Good," Bob said. "Now go to sleep."

"Yes, sir," Jess said, stifling a yawn. "And Bob …?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks again. I owe you one."

"No," Bob said, "you don't." Then, "Tony, however …"

Jess laughed as they both hung up the phone.

Jess felt somehow more rested after the phone call. Having all of her questions answered helped calm the flurry of thoughts crowding her brain. She yawned, grabbed the TV remote and turned on the flatscreen in her room. She happened across a movie channel that was showing "My Dinner with Andre" and she suddenly wondered how Tony and Callen were doing.


	23. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

The Capital Grille in Washington DC is located on Pennsylvania Avenue, something that Tony was used to and Callen was impressed by. Getting out of the car in front of the restaurant, Callen turned to his right and saw the lit up Capital dome in the distance.

"Nice view," he said, appreciatively.

Tony glanced over. "It is," he agreed. "Although in the middle of January, the Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica pier looks a whole lot more inviting."

Callen nodded. The two men walked into the oak paneled restaurant, filled with Washington power brokers talking in hushed tones. The restaurant was dim and quiet and exactly what Callen had been hoping for. The last thing he needed was a hip trendy diner or a noisy sports bar. Tony had chosen well.

"How'd you get a reservation so quickly?" Callen asked, as they studied their menus. "In LA you need six weeks of lead time for virtually any place."

"I dropped a name," Tony said.

Callen looked up over his menu.

Tony shot him a half-grin and a dismissive shrug. "Secretary of the Navy," he said.

"Do you _know_ the Secretary of the Navy?" Callen asked, a bit suspiciously.

"We've met," Tony said. "And he kind of owed me a favor."

"Nice."

"You look as though you're ready to order," the waiter said as he silently appeared at the table. "What may I bring you?"

"I'll have the New York strip with au gratin potatoes and a side of creamed spinach," both men said, in perfect unison. They looked up from their menus in surprise.

The waiter regarded them with a raised eyebrow and then turned to Callen. "Salad sir?"

"The Wedge," Callen replied, glancing up at Tony, who scowled just a bit, as though someone had just taken away his punch line.

"And you, sir?" the waiter asked, moving his glance to Tony.

"I'll have SOUP," he said deliberately. "The lobster bisque."

"Very good," the waiter replied. Still looking at Tony, he next asked, "and how would you like that steak prepared, sir?"

"Medium," Tony replied quickly, and then cocked his head as he looked at Callen.

"Medium _rare_," Callen offered, locking eyes with his dinner partner.

"Anything to drink, gentlemen?" the waiter continued, dryly amused by it all.

"Could I see the wine list?" the two men said, again in unison.

"In hopes of circumventing a one-upmanship of wine pairings that neither one of you look as though you can afford," the waiter began with just a touch of condescension, "perhaps I could suggest a nice full-bodied, non-competitive house red?"

The two men stared each other down – but not with animosity. Each had the start of a grin forming; it was more like two friends about to arm wrestle for control of the remote. "Fine," they agreed.

"Excellent," the waiter said as he collected menus and walked away, shaking his head.

Tony and Callen each took a sip of water and reached for the bread basket. Tony stopped mid-reach. "Please tell me that we're not going to do this mirror-mime thing all night."

Callen laughed and raised his hands in surrender. "Clearly, neither one of us gets out enough."

Tony smiled and nodded. "Clearly."

Callen took a sip of water and became serious for a moment. "I need to thank you – for acting on Jess' message, for the diversion, for the back-up."

"OSP could have done it without us," Tony said with a shrug.

"No," Callen said, "they couldn't have."

Tony opened his mouth to speak, but Callen interrupted whatever thought the other man had. "Based on what we know now, Jess would have been dead and I'd have been a prisoner without that water drop. It may not seem like it, but it made all the difference."

Tony shrugged again. "We do what we need to do," he said, in a matter-of-fact tone. "I'm glad I could help."

Callen nodded. "So," he offered, changing the subject. "How'd you get into this line of work?"

"NCIS?" Tony said. "I was a cop first – Philly, Peoria, Baltimore. Met Gibbs … somewhere … and he brought me in to NCIS. You?"

"I had kind of a … nomadic … childhood," Callen replied. "I joined the Military to get a little order in my life, but ended up assigned to special ops, which is …"

"Inherently unordered," Tony filled in.

"Exactly. And then somewhere along the line I met Gibbs, and he brought me in to NCIS."

The two of them looked at each other and almost dared each other to make a move. Neither did.

"Do you like undercover work?" Tony continued.

"I'm good at it," Callen replied with a shrug. "I like it sometimes. Most times. I like it when we catch the guy. What about you? Do much undercover?"

Tony thought for a moment and his face darkened almost imperceptively. "Not anymore."

The waiter arrived with wine. The men clinked glasses and each took a sip. There was a silent moment of understanding between the men, each recalling the dark side of being someone else.

Tony continued, in a much lighter tone, "I'm not really a big one for anonymity."

Callen smiled. "Yeah … Jess mentioned that." Then, "how long have you known each other? You and Jess."

"I met her when I was 10," Tony said. "She was nine. We've been through a lot, but we've had each others' backs all our lives."

Callen was appropriately impressed. "I don't have anyone in my life that I've known for that long," he said, with a bit of resignation. "I met a lot of kids, but never really formed those kinds of friendships." He explained, "I moved around a lot."

"Yeah," Tony said, a bit sympathetically. "Jess mentioned that."

The two men looked at each other and chuckled. Then, in unison, "So … What else did Jess tell you?"

The waiter arrived with Callen's salad and Tony's soup, just as they were completing the question. "Still speaking in unison, I see," the waiter said, dryly. "That _is_ clever." Both men looked up at him.

"This meal will be so much less expensive without having to add a tip," Tony said, with an innocent smile.

Callen suppressed a laugh as the waiter flushed just a bit, set down the food and walked away.

Callen shook his head and took up the conversation. "She said you were good-looking, an athlete, and could quote entire movies from memory; she said you were the best investigator she's ever known and the only person she knew who would not stop looking until we were found."

Tony smiled and took a sip of soup.

Callen raised an eyebrow. "Quid pro quo, Mr. DiNozzo?"

"Hmm …" Tony said, a bit under his breath. "'Silence of the Lambs'. Nice. A little creepy, but nice." He continued, in normal voice. "She said you were smart, mysterious, ruggedly handsome …"

Callen laughed.

"She said that I could absolutely trust you to keep her safe," Tony continued. He picked up his wine glass and then stopped. "Oh … and apparently you're a grand master at Guitar Hero."

Callen picked up his glass as well. "You're the better karaoke singer."

"So, we're even, then," Tony said as they both drank. He changed topics. "Who is this ops manager from your office I keep getting messages from regarding your well-being?"

"Ah … that's Hetty, our little office ninja," Callen laughed. "I'd like to see her up against Gibbs. I'm not entirely certain who'd win."

"_I'd_ like to see her up against Ziva," Tony added.

"Twenty bucks on Hetty," Callen said. "Personally," he continued, "I'd like to see Ziva up against Sam." He clarified, "Sam Hanna – my partner."

"I think I met him via video conference," Tony said. "Big strong ex-SEAL muscle of a guy?"

Callen nodded.

"That might be an even fight," Tony said, thoughtfully.

"Maybe," Callen agreed. "The pairing to see, though," he continued, "would be Hetty and your Dr. Mallard."

"Oh good God," Tony exclaimed. "THAT is a five part mini-series waiting to happen!"

The rest of the meal was filled with stories of missions, mishaps, "can you believe" and "did you ever." Callen was appropriately impressed at Tony's ability to survive the plague; Tony was appropriately impressed by Callen's ability to take five bullets and return to work a month early. Callen got a more complete explanation about Tony & Jess' scar competition; Tony managed to eke out some intel about what Gibbs was like in Russia. It was a friendly meal between colleagues. It wasn't until the two were drinking their coffee that Callen's curiosity about Tony and Jess got the better of him.

"So …" he began. "You and Jess have known each other since age nine or ten. And you've been just friends all that time? You guys never dated? Never hooked up?" he asked.

Tony's face had an expression that Callen couldn't quite read. "Once," Tony said. "For about three days. It was pretty much a disaster."

Callen nodded in understanding. "Yeah," he said, introspectively. "Same with me and Sam."

Tony did a perfect spit-take across the table and nearly choked on his coffee. Callen laughed loudly enough to make nearby diners take notice.

"Sorry …" Callen said, as soon as they'd both regained their composure. "I couldn't pass that up."

Tony raised his coffee cup appreciatively. "Set and match, Mr. Callen."

Callen looked at him with an amused raise of the eyebrows. "It's not a competition," he said.

Tony grinned. "Of course it is."


	24. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

The car dropped Callen off just before midnight. He was escorted upstairs and checked in with the guard at the door. There were no other signs of life as he entered the main living space. If Jess was still awake, he couldn't tell.

Callen walked into his room, closed the door, tossed his jacket on the bed and kicked off his shoes. He sank into the overstuffed chair in the corner and pulled out his phone. He rolled his eyes to see that he had six missed calls, all from Sam. He touched a few buttons on the screen and waited for Sam to pick up.

"Where you been?" Sam said, by way of greeting.

"Aw … you miss me," Callen said with a smile and a slight yawn.

"You doin' okay?" Sam continued. "We got a report back that you guys had landed and that there were no issues."

"Hetty bumped us to first class," Callen said, sounding like a kid who had gotten a new toy.

"She always liked you best," Sam said, in mock annoyance. Callen chuckled.

"So …" Sam tried again. "Where you been? I've been trying to reach you all night."

"Yeah … I noticed. Do you _need_ something, or are you just doing the Momma Bear thing?" Callen said with a grin that Sam could hear.

"DC is a big place," Sam replied, with an over-solicitous tone. "Just making sure you can handle yourself."

"I'm a big boy. I can manage."

"Do not make me ask again," Sam said, nagging almost.

"Dinner with DiNozzo," Callen replied, dutifully.

"Sounds like a bad indie movie," Sam said with a chuckle.

Callen returned the laughter. "Wasn't … actually. Good steak, good conversation, Pentagon's expense account." He heard Sam laugh. "He's a good guy, DiNozzo. Good agent."

"You found yourself a new partner out in the District?" Sam said, with fake suspicion evident in the humor.

"Nah," Callen said, nonchalantly. "He's just a one night stand."

Sam laughed. "See you in a couple of days, hotshot," he said, and hung up.

Callen pulled on some sweats and sat back down into the easy chair. He could just barely hear the TV coming from Jess' room. Apparently she couldn't sleep either. He dialed another number.

Nate picked up on the first ring.

"How are things on the coast?" Callen asked lightly.

"Quiet, for a change," came the response. "You guys got there okay, I guess."

"No problems," Callen said. "Tell Hetty," he continued; not a suggestion, but an order.

"I shall relay the message," Nate said, understanding totally. He paused. Then, "So … what's up?"

"I know it's late on both our coasts. But if you've got a minute to talk …"

Nate got comfortable and pulled out a notepad. "Absolutely. What's on your mind?"

* * *

Jess heard Callen come in and go into his room. She was curious about his dinner with Tony, but didn't want it to seem like she was checking up on them. She turned down the TV and could hear Callen talking. Checking up on the gang in LA no doubt. She toyed with the idea of calling Tony, then decided against it. There would be plenty of time to hear how dinner had played out. And if she called Tony now, all she'd really get is a lot of nagging about getting some rest and a lot of questions about why she couldn't sleep and did she need to have the Navy doctor prescribe her something. She figured it was part jet lag and part adrenaline that was keeping her awake. Even though she'd gotten most of the answers she'd needed from her conversation with Bob, there were still things that didn't make sense to her.

"I guess that's what the debrief is for," she said to herself as she turned off the TV. She stood and stretched, still hearing the muffled sound of Callen talking in the other room. She swung her arms a couple of times to stretch the muscles and paced a bit in her room.

"This is silly," she said, looking at her reflection in the mirror. "You should go to bed." She examined her face a bit more closely. A bruise had formed on the side of her face, where Sutton had hit her when she refused to log into the Pentagon database. She had part of a hand-shaped bruise on her neck where he had grabbed her and held her up against the wall. She had dark circles under her eyes and a small cut on her lip. "You look like crap," she said to herself.

Jess walked into her bathroom and threw some water on her face. She toyed with the idea of taking a shower, but that seemed silly after a 40-minute bath earlier in the night. She sighed heavily and padded out into the main living area of the space, heading for the kitchen. She wasn't really hungry, but it was something to do.

* * *

Back in his room, Callen was finishing up his conversation with Nate. He'd talked mostly about the helplessness he'd felt, not knowing where Jess was, what was happening to her, or if she was even alive. And how he felt that he'd failed somehow – that he was supposed to keep her safe, and he couldn't.

"You know that everything you're feeling is totally normal, right?" Nate had said. "You, Sam, Kensi … you're all in the business of catching the bad guy and saving the good guy. It works against your nature when it doesn't play out that way."

"I know," Callen replied, a little mad at himself for not being able to get past this. "But it just all went sideways so fast, and with no warning."

"Not the first time," Nate reminded him. "Unfortunately, the bad guys are just as good at what they do as we are."

Callen was silent.

Nate continued, gently leading Callen towards the proper conclusion. "We caught the bad guys, G. Didn't lose any of the good guys."

"And the world is safe again," Callen said with a slight smile. "I know."

"So pack up the cape for the night and get some sleep," Nate instructed. "Or I'll tell Hetty you're up past your bedtime."

Callen laughed. "I always took you for a tattle-tale", he said.

Nate waited for Callen to finish.

"You know …" Callen continued. "I may have Jess call you too. She'll be debriefing tomorrow, but the guys here don't know as much about what happened."

"No problem," Nate said. "How's she doing?"

"Better than I'd have thought," Callen said. "But it's hard to tell. I don't know her well enough to know if she got past it all once the op was over, or if she's a ticking time bomb."

"It could hit her later," Nate agreed. "We'll have to watch for PTSD or any other irregularities. Something like that could stay buried for a while. Agent DiNozzo knows her best. Is he worried?"

"Doesn't seem to be," Callen said. "I can tell he's keeping an eye on her, but past that …"

"I'm thinking that if he didn't have a problem leaving her alone to have dinner with you, he must not be overly concerned," Nate said, kind of thinking out loud. "If he'd have been worried, he'd have brushed you off to be with her."

"Yeah …" Callen tentatively agreed.

"It's what Sam would have done with you," Nate said, matter-of-factly. "Friends don't let friends implode."

Callen smiled. Then, "I'll tell her to call."

"She can call, and I'll listen," Nate said. "But you can't MAKE her call. Let her do it on her own."

"Will do, doc," Callen said. "Thanks … for the chat."

"My pleasure," Nate said, stretching out in his chair. "Call any time." Then, to push the point home, he added, "And I mean that."

"I know," Callen said.

"See you in a couple of days," Nate said as he hung up.

Callen hung up the phone and looked at the clock. It was 1:30 am. He couldn't hear anything from Jess' room, so he assumed she'd called it a night finally. He stretched and headed to the kitchen to get something to drink. The creamed spinach had been salty, and he'd been talking for a long time. He needed some juice or something and was hoping the fridge in the safehouse was stocked. He needn't have worried. As he walked into the kitchen, there was Jess, sitting at the table, a pint of ice cream in front of her. She was eating absent-mindedly and staring at the wall. She jumped when he said hello.

"I'm sorry," he said, as he picked up her spoon from the floor. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"No …," she said, recovering quickly. "I was … I don't know where I was." She looked down into the nearly empty pint container. "Apparently, I was trying to eat my way down ice cream mountain."

He laughed. She offered him the pint.

"Hell no," he said, going to the freezer. "I want my own." He pulled out another pint and sat at the table.

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

"It's killing you to not ask, isn't it?" Callen said finally, with a twinkle in his eye.

She chuckled and nodded. "How was dinner?"

"Great," Callen assured her. "We covered every topic from Guitar Hero to Gibbs." He paused to eat a spoonful of ice cream. "I hear I'm ruggedly handsome."

Jess dropped her head and shook it from side to side, then looked up and nodded at him. "I knew you guys would go there." She sighed. "I knew."

They both smiled. Jess' face changed then, her brow furrowing. She squinted a bit, clearly trying to process some information.

"I still don't understand how it all happened," she said.

"What?"

"The fake shooting thing," she said. "The timeline is hinky."

Callen nodded. It had been bothering him too. "You said you waited for an hour at least," he said, trying to work it out in his head. "Between when I was taken out of the room and before Sutton started questioning you. That had to be it."

"The time lag?"

"Yeah – they took me out of the room we were in, tied me up and started punching almost immediately. Korianski would look at his watch, like he was timing things. His phone would ping and he'd let go another one. All of that was happening to me while you were waiting." He paused and thought through it a little more. "By the time _your_ questioning started, I was already unconscious, Korianski was dead, and everything they were showing you was being played back."

"How is that possible, though?" Jess continued. "How did they get the timing right?"

Callen shrugged and pointed his spoon towards himself. "Unconscious, remember?" Then, "Jess – you were tired, scared, worried. You were trying to find a way out, trying to formulate a plan. You weren't focused on analyzing the images on the screen."

She looked up at him and nodded. She seemed to be mentally scolding herself for not having figured it out.

"Cut yourself a break, Jess," he said. "You did a good job. We got the guy. Let it go."

She nodded again, her expression more relaxed. "Yeah … you're right," she said, dropping her spoon into the now-empty pint container. She let out a long sigh. "My brain hurts."

Callen put the top on his container of ice cream, tossed her empty pint in the trash, put the spoons in the sink, and offered Jess a hand.

"Come on," he said, pulling her out of her chair. "Sleep."

"Sleep," she repeated as she stood. They walked into the living room and each headed for their door. "See you in the morning …" she said, with a final glance his way.

"Yes, you will," he assured her.


	25. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

Neither Jess nor Callen were the type to sleep in. Yet, when Tony arrived at the safehouse at 10 am the next morning to pick them up, the apartment was quiet and the security detail reported that there had been no signs of movement since about 2 am. Tony took a peek into Jess' room to make sure that she was okay. At least, that's what he told himself. Based on how Jess had spoken about Callen – and after Callen's questions about Tony and Jess' relationship the night before – it wouldn't have surprised him if Jess' bed was empty. Or if Callen was in it.

"Checking up on us?" Callen said. Tony jumped. He spun around to see Callen only inches away.

"I could say no," Tony said, with a shrug and a grin, "but neither one of us would believe me." He looked at the other man, standing there looking relaxed and awake. "You OSP guys are sneaky. How'd you get right up behind me that fast?" he said, with typical DiNozzo suspicion.

"It's not really that hard," Jess said, startling Tony once again as she suddenly appeared behind him, at the door to her room. She was also dressed and ready, looking relaxed and awake.

Callen and Jess both laughed as Tony shook his head in mock disgust and walked towards the door. "Two thousand comedians out of work and I get you guys," Tony said as he opened the door and ushered them through.

* * *

The rest of the Norfolk team was glad to see Callen and Jess, safe and relatively unharmed. Jess saw Tony's teammates fairly regularly, so there were no introductions to be made. Callen, however, was ushered around to meet his east coast counterparts.

"Nice to see you again, McGee," Callen said, as Tim approached. "It's been a while."

"It has," McGee said, shaking Callen's hand. "We were pretty worried about you after the shooting," he said. "But you look like you recovered pretty well."

"Yeah … I was worried about me too," Callen admitted. "I've been meaning to thank you for the card," he continued. Callen scoped the entire rest of the team standing in the bullpen. "You were the only one from Norfolk who sent one."

McGee blushed a bit and said, "You're welcome", while Gibbs rolled his eyes and Tony rubbed his nose in a subtle little 'brown nose' gesture behind Callen's back.

"Although, considering that you technically do not exist, Mr. Callen, it should not be surprising that more of us did not acknowledge your absence," Ducky said, as he stepped forward.

"The famous Dr. Mallard, I presume?" Callen said, as the men shook hands.

"Famous? Hardly," Ducky replied. Then, casting his eyes to the ceiling and pointing an index finger to the group, he began. "Although I do have an Uncle Halbert Mallard who was quite the celebrity in his day. In fact, I remember being a mere lad of twelve when I first heard of Uncle Halbert's exploits on the cricket pitch. He was sought after by a bevy of beautiful women for his skill as a slogger."

Callen pressed his lips together and glanced at Gibbs with an amused look. He willed himself not to respond.

"There was many a Sunday afternoon when poor Uncle H could not even wander the green without being descended upon by all of the eligible women in the countryside." Ducky smiled and shook his head. "Pity that he had no personality whatsoever." Ducky looked back at Callen, smiling. "But me, famous? Heaven's no. Infamous perhaps," he said, with a wink and a grin.

"Where's Abby?" Callen asked, looking around at the assembled group.

"Forensic conference in Boston," Ziva responded with a smile. "She'll be back tomorrow."

Callen looked over at Ziva, then at Tony.

"And this," Tony said, as he moved forward, "is very special Probie Agent Ziva David," he said, careful to put just the right amount of lightness into the introduction.

Callen had met Ziva via video conference during the whole Rivkin / terrorist cell episode, and he knew her role in it, having been debriefed while he was still recovering from the drive-by. As a result of the deaths caused by Rivkin, and OSP's inability to bring him in or send him home, Macy had been disciplined and reassigned. Callen had been understandably angry. He'd never seen or heard that any formal reprimand or other disciplinary action had been undertaken with Officer – now Agent – David. And it still kind of stung to see her operating so easily as part of Gibbs' team, having been partially responsible for separating his. He was pleasant and professional, but it was awkward. He was glad Sam wasn't here. Sam would not have been as polite.

"I hate to break up this meeting of east and west, Agent Callen, but if you have a moment?" Director Vance had appeared on the landing as Callen was working his way around the room. "And Miss Kennedy, you are due in debrief."

"Yes, sir," Jess said.

"On my way, Director," Callen said. He turned back to Gibbs. "See you at your place later?"

"I'll be there," Gibbs said, with a characteristic nod and grin.

As Callen walked up the stairs to Vance's office, the rest of the group stood idly around the bullpen.

"Unless I have to stay here all night to finish all the work my team is NOT doing right now …"

McGee, Ziva and Tony instantly sprang into motion, all speaking simultaneously.

"I'll have those phone records for you in ten minutes."

"Checking on those lab reports now, boss."

"Yes … well … back to Autopsy for me, I'm afraid."

"Nothing yet on the BOLO but I will check again, Gibbs."

Jess stopped by Gibbs' desk as she made her way to the elevator. "You love doing that, don't you?" she said with a grin.

"Oh yeah," he said with a smile.

* * *

Callen emerged from Vance's office two hours later with a handful of files and a small black case that held a "Meritorious Service" medal. He wasn't any more fond of these tokens than was Gibbs, but he'd accepted it with grace. He was a little miffed that Jess wasn't receiving one as well, but apparently it was an agency thing. If the Pentagon wanted to give her a medal, they would. That was up to them. He hoped they did.

The bullpen was empty except for McGee.

"Where is everyone?" Callen asked, looking around.

"Jess finished in debrief so Gibbs sent Tony home with her, and Ziva has a class for her citizenship exam," McGee explained. "Gibbs is in MTAC, and I," he continued as he packed up his files and computer, "am headed to the airport to pick up Abby."

McGee noticed that he'd kind of left Callen standing alone in the center of the room.

"Do you … do you need anything?" McGee asked.

"Nope … I'm good," Callen said. "Is there a desk I can borrow?"

"You can use mine if you want," Tim offered. "Or there's a 'visiting agent' desk on the end with a phone and computer."

"Thanks," Callen said, heading to the end desk. "Have a nice night."

McGee waved as he headed to the elevator, and Callen sat down, opened a file, and started to read.

When Gibbs exited MTAC, Callen was still at his commandeered desk, reading case files. He promised to be at Gibbs' place in time for dinner. Gibbs shook his head, smiled and waved as he headed out of the building. An hour later Callen packed up and headed out as well.

* * *

As he turned up the walk to Gibbs' place, Callen had to laugh. No one to greet him … door unlocked. There was some level of comfort to be had in knowing that some things would never change.

He walked inside, dropped his stuff in the guest room, grabbed a beer from the fridge and headed downstairs.

"'Bout time, Callen," Gibbs said, not missing a stroke of the sanding block he was working with.

"Doesn't look like a boat," Callen said, coming down the stairs.

"Nice to know your time in confinement didn't harm your observational skills," Gibbs said, with a half-smile. He watched Callen's reaction to see if there was any darkness there. There wasn't. His friend was relaxed and comfortable.

Callen chuckled, and looked more closely at the object on the work table in the center of the room. "You've graduated to trains, I see," he said, admiring the workmanship on the caboose that Gibbs was finishing.

"My dad builds wooden trains for Toys for Tots every year," Gibbs explained, wiping his hands and putting his tools aside. "Talked me into helping out."

"Nice," Callen said. "And they're easier to get out of the basement."

Gibbs held up his coffee mug of bourbon and clinked it with Callen's beer. "How are ya, Callen?"

"Still sore in a couple of places, but nearly recovered, I think," Callen replied. "It was a tough few days, but they're done now." Gibbs got the impression that the younger man had literally put the entire mission in a box, closed it, sealed it, marked it with mission name and date, and shelved it away into the back of his psyche like the rest of them.

"When do you go back?"

"I'm clear till Sunday, but I'm going back tomorrow. Give myself a day at the beach before the next thing." Gibbs nodded. "And I need to swing back by NCIS," Callen continued. "Eric had some requests for … um … 'items' from Abby."

Gibbs raised an eyebrow.

"I have no idea," Callen said with a laugh, downing the last of his beer. "Apparently whatever it is will be perfectly legal and make it through airport security without a problem."

Gibbs chuckled. "Good luck with that."

The two men sat in silence for a few minutes, and then Gibbs stood and stretched. "Let's move this upstairs," he said, as he turned off the lights and set the train aside. "Closer to the beer."

"Upstairs it is," said Callen, taking a last look around and heading up the stairs. "I need to get myself a basement," he said.

"You need to get yourself a house first," Gibbs replied as they walked into the kitchen. "Otherwise, it's just a hole in the ground."

"Duly noted," Callen said, as he grabbed a beer for each of them.

"You hungry?" Gibbs asked.

"I could eat."

Gibbs pulled a steak out of the fridge and started to unwrap it to toss it on the fire.

"Don't you guys eat anything but steak out here?" Callen asked, with a light laugh. Gibbs looked at him and squinted, tacitly asking a question. "Tony and I had dinner at Capital Grille last night," Callen filled in. "Best steak in DC."

"Except for mine," Gibbs said, with a tinge of pride. Then, sizing up Callen, "Unless you'd rather have a salad, California boy."

Callen laughed out loud. "Nope. Cowboy steak is fine with me." He plopped down on Gibbs' couch and was perfectly at home.

* * *

At Tony's place, Jess was settling in. She'd lived with Tony for a few months when she first moved to DC, so she was comfortable at his place. In fact, she still regularly spent more time at his place than at her own. She really hoped that Tony would meet someone some day and have a dating life again. But she also lived in fear of that day, since it meant she couldn't just show up and invite herself over for the weekend. Or the month.

The two had ordered pizza and were hanging out on the back deck waiting for the delivery to arrive. Tony took a sip of wine, put his wine glass down, crossed his arms and looked at Jess.

"Uh oh," she said. She knew this was coming.

"So you go out on an undercover mission with the NCIS Office of Special Projects and I don't even get a text message?" Tony had his 'big brother' face on and a light scolding tone to his voice. "We had a deal, Jess."

"I know," she said, looking down at her hands. She looked up at him nervously. "But this was OSP, and we were told 'no contact'; no one knew at the Pentagon, and I knew you'd worry, and I didn't think it was going to be …"

"Jess!" he said, trying to stop her rambling. "You could have been killed, and I'd have never known. You almost _were_ killed. You can't do that."

She looked at him.

"We had a deal," he said. "Rule #3 – Never be unreachable."

"I didn't find out about Jeanne until after," she said, quietly, reminding him.

"We've talked about that, and that was my mistake," Tony said. "But I also wasn't gone. I was here, and we talked every day. You knew where I was." He looked straight at her. "Please don't tell me that you kept this a secret because you wanted to get even with me for Jeanne."

"No!" Jess said. "You know better than that." She looked down at the deck and then back up at him. "I was just … I don't know … following orders. I should have let you know. I will next time."

He pulled her into a hug. Then, pushing her away and looking at her with wide eyes, "Next time?"

Jess laughed. "IF there's a next time," she amended. "And I don't anticipate that. I'm not cut out to be in the field. I like my cushy desk job."

There was a knock at the door.

"Just for that," Tony said, sitting back down and picking up his wine glass, "pizza is on you."

Jess looked at him. "I was paying for it anyway," she said, rolling her eyes, "because _you_ didn't have any cash."

"Yeah … well … so … there!" Tony said. He downed the last of his wine and went to the kitchen to get some plates.


	26. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Callen walked into the bullpen the next day just as Jess and Gibbs were walking off the elevator.

"Get your package?" Gibbs said, with a wary smile.

"I did," Callen replied. "And had a chance to talk to Abby." He stopped and considered that. "Or, rather, I had a chance to listen to Abby talk to me."

Gibbs chuckled.

At that moment, Abby came running into the bullpen.

"Speak of the devil," Tony said with a smile.

"What? Who? Me?" Abby said, stopping at Tony's desk and cocking her head to the side. "I am not the devil", she said to him, with a straight face. "If I were, you would not be wearing that tie."

"What's wrong with my tie?" Tony said, looking down. "And what does that even mean?"

"If ya gotta ask, DiNozzo …" Gibbs said as he headed for his desk.

"G. Callen!" Abby said, turning around and being remarkably close to where G was standing, "I forgot to give you this." She handed him a red velvet cupcake with a perfect hot pink skull on top. "For the flight back. In case you get hungry," she explained.

"Thank you," Callen said, clearly not entirely certain where to put the cupcake without getting frosting everywhere.

Abby produced a small Tupperware-like container from behind her back. "And this," she said with a smile, "will get that cupcake through any security scan on the planet."

"Is there a reason it wouldn't make it through otherwise?" Callen asked, eyeing the cupcake with suspicion.

"Oh … no … of course not," Abby assured him. "But you never know. Just being safe."

Callen packed up the cupcake in its new hermetically-sealed container and put it carefully in his duffel, with a sidelong glance at Jess, who was trying hard not to laugh.

"It was nice seeing you, G. Callen," Abby said, giving him a final hug.

"You too, Abby Sciuto," Callen replied, as Abby headed back down to the lab.

The departure of Abby seemed to deflate the room, somehow, and the people in it were suddenly at a loss for what to do next.

"So …" Callen said, recovering. He looked over at Jess. "Did you debrief?"

"Yup," she said. "I am physically, emotionally and psychologically fit." Without even turning to see Tony open his mouth, she extended her arm towards him and held up her index finger. "Nothing, DiNozzo," she said.

Callen and Gibbs both chuckled.

"Case report is written and signed and should be in your e-mail box by the time you get back to OSP," she continued.

"Good," he said. "I told Nate you might call him too … you know, if you feel like talking to someone else."

She looked at him quizzically.

"He knows more about what happened than the guys here …" Callen said. "Just in case you need to. Your call."

"Okay," Jess said. "When's your flight?"

"That would be my cue to leave," Callen said, with a short laugh.

"No … I didn't mean …" Jess was turning red.

He walked over to Jess and pulled her into a hug. "Take care of yourself, sis," he said.

"Will do, bro," she replied. "Keep out of the line of fire."

The two looked at each other.

"I owe you breakfast," Callen said with a smile.

"Yes, you do," Jess confirmed. "Next time."

Callen nodded. "Next time."

The two hugged again and then stood there, unsure of what to do next. The moment was broken by Gibbs.

"Come on Callen," he said, putting his arm around the younger man. "I'll drive you to the airport."

Callen turned back to the group assembled in the bullpen with a look of mock terror on his face and a mouthed, "Help!"

Gibbs released his hold and gave Callen a light headslap.

The two men got in the elevator, and then … Callen was gone. On his way back to California.

* * *

At Tony's apartment later that evening, Jess and Tony had just finished a pasta feast that they had created and were attempting to load the dishwasher.

"How can one meal for two people create so many dirty dishes?" Jess said, surveying the wreckage that used to be Tony's kitchen.

"They multiply," Tony said. "I saw it on the X-Files."

Jess smiled and continued clearing the table and counter.

"So …" Tony began, seizing his chance. "You and Callen."

"What about me and Callen," Jess said, giving him a quizzical look.

"The other night … in the safehouse …"

She cocked her head to the side, trying to figure out where he was going with this.

"When I got there in the morning," Tony continued, "you were both up and dressed and it just seemed like maybe …"

"Like maybe we had slept together and gotten up at the same time and made sure we were dressed and had made the beds or something so that when you got there you wouldn't be able to tell?" Jess stood with her hands on her hips, regarding Tony with a small smirk. Her voice was coy and innocent, but clearly teasing.

Tony shrugged and nodded. "Yeah … that's pretty much exactly where I was … yup."

Jess laughed and went back to clearing the table. "No, Tony, G and I did not share a night of passion in the safehouse." She frowned a bit in thought. "Although that wouldn't be a bad title for a Harlequin romance." She looked at him. "Or a TV movie. Lifetime Movie Network, I'm thinking. George Clooney can play Callen."

"Clooney would never do a Lifetime movie," Tony said, totally missing the point. Coming back to center, he continued. "It just seemed like you two were … you know … that you'd found a little chemistry there. There's nothing going on?"

"No, Tony," Jess said. "There is nothing there."

"You sure?" Tony said, now his turn to tease.

"No, I'm **not** entirely certain, Tony," she said, sarcasm lacing her voice. "Because maybe what my life needs to make it even more complicated is a long-distance, bi-coastal relationship with a man who regularly disappears undercover and is shot at a lot."

"Geez," Tony said, backing away. "I was just asking."

"Actually," Jess said, putting the last of the dishes in the sink, "my relationship with Callen is working out to be a lot like my relationship with you."

Tony raised his eyebrows, inviting more detail.

"Same guy, different coast," she said, effectively closing the conversation as she walked back into the living room.

Tony stood alone in the kitchen, among a pile of dirty dishes.

"At least I have a first name!" he yelled behind her.

* * *

As Callen neared the bottom of the stairs to the baggage claim area, he saw a chauffeur holding a sign with the letter "G" on it. He laughed and motioned to the man. "I'm who you're waiting for."

"Yes, sir," the driver said. "Do you have any other luggage?"

"No," Callen said. "Just this."

The driver took his duffel and escorted Callen to the waiting car, opening the back door as Callen approached.

"Nice touch, Hetty," Callen said, with a smile.

"Don't get used to it, Mr. Callen," Hetty said as he got in the car. She was sitting on the opposite side of the limo, near the driver's shield. "This is a special occasion."

"Well," Callen said, with a nod, "I appreciate it."

Hetty chuckled and handed him a glass of Scotch. Callen raised an eyebrow and looked at her.

"I'm charging the Pentagon," she said, as the driver put the car in gear and began the trip back to OSP. "Glenfidditch Special Reserve, Mr. Callen. Drink up."

**END**


	27. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

It was over a month before Callen and Jess saw each other again. G had been sent to Washington DC to testify at a budget hearing in Hetty's stead. She had begged off the hearings this time around, preferring to stay back in Los Angeles and keep and eye on things.

"Lest we forget what happened last time, Mr. Callen," she'd said.

Hetty figured that her staying in LA paired with Callen being in DC would head off any potential case-related disasters.

Callen figured that as long as he was going to be in DC for the week, he, Jess and Tony should get together. His job required him to live undercover virtually 100% of the time, meaning that Callen didn't have a huge circle of friends. He wanted to grab any opportunity he could to expand that circle, particularly with people who actually knew him as Callen and not one of his 187 aliases. So he'd proposed an evening out, and Tony and Jess had leapt at the chance.

As luck would have it, Bob Brown and most of The Unit were also scheduled to be in DC, debriefing after a long, boring mission keeping an eye on a couple of middle Eastern diplomats who were also playboy wannabes. The guys were thrilled at the prospect of "a night out with grown-ups," as Jonas put it. Even helicopter pilot Billy Wilcox was able to join them, having been sent to DC for disaster training for the upcoming hurricane season.

On the appointed evening, the entire group filled a small suite at the Hay Adams. They'd chosen a private party over something in a public place, just to maintain everyone's cover. The last thing OSP or the Pentagon needed was a identity-confirming photo in the DC tabloids of a half-dozen men and one woman causing a situation at a local bar. A scenario that all of them could, too easily, imagine.

Jess had to admit that the evening was a bit odd. "You know," she'd said at one point, "it's awfully crowded in here, considering none of you officially exist."

"I exist," Tony said, almost pouting.

"Yes, you do," Jess assured him. And then she told him he couldn't have anything more to drink until he ate something.

Two hours later – after some high-spirited storytelling, scar comparisons, toasts to Hetty and Vance and Gibbs, and several re-enactments of the diversionary water drop (after which Tony was fairly certain they'd have to reimburse the hotel for the carpet), it was time to head home. The Unit had an early transport the next morning, Billy had a flight class at 0700, and Callen was due at the hearings by 9am. A round of hugs and handshakes later, the group was dispersing, with Tony, Callen and Jess the last ones out.

"I'll call the Front Desk tomorrow and deal with … well … whatever," Tony said as they locked the door and headed to the elevators. He looked at Callen. "You okay getting back to your hotel?"

"I'll grab a cab," he said. "I'll be fine."

"You've got stuff in Tony's car," Jess reminded him.

"Right," Callen said. "Guess I'll swing down to the parking garage with you and THEN I'll catch a cab."

The three of them were pleasantly tired and relaxed and didn't even realize that the elevator doors that opened in front of them were for the freight elevator and not the passenger car. They stepped inside and Jess hit "P2" for the parking garage. It was at that moment that Callen noticed the three men standing in the back corner of the elevator. And it was at that moment that Tony noticed that two of the three men standing in the back corner of the elevator had guns. Jess felt Tony and Callen both tense as the elevator doors closed.

But … that's another story.


End file.
